XCOM: The 69th Attempt at Human Victory
by PRAKNASTY
Summary: This is a novelization of my 69th game of playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the Xbox 360 on Normal Difficulty. I own none of the characters or storyline of the XCOM Franchise. Although the conversations, decision, and mistakes are my own. The fate of this story rest in the community of Fan Fiction. On Hiatus Due To XCOM 2: The Resistance Saviors
1. Operation Enduring Pipe

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK WITH A NEW STORY! Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well, and as mentioned above I'm posting a second story. Now this story is a novelization of my recent play through of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the Xbox 360. I'll do an individual chapter for each mission and I'll see if this series is well received or not by you guys. If it is I'll update new chapters after every month of the game until I either win or fail. If not this will be discontinued after Chapter 5. It's all up to you guys so please leave reviews and comments on it so I know where you guys stand on it. Thanks again and I'd like to introduce you to "XCOM: The 69th Attempt at Human Victory."**

 **Chapter 1: Operation Enduring Pipe**

* * *

The aliens were once again up to their old tricks, trying once again to take over the Earth by launching simultaneous attacks on strategic city locations around the world. And of course it came down to me to stop this alien threat. Has the world really fallen that far to ask for me to lead them? Anyway allow me to introduce myself I am PRAKNASTY otherwise known as "The Nasty One" and I'm leading Earth's first and last line of defense against the alien threat.

Today at 12:00 AM, March 1st, 2015 an unknown alien race struck at multiple cities hoping to catch us off guard and make us surrender quickly. However, they made the fatal mistake of attacking my hometown of Baltimore, MD, USA. Now those fuckers must pay for what they've done, commencing Operation Enduring Pipe.

* * *

== On Board the Skyranger ==

The four selected soldiers were currently commencing their last equipment checks before landing at the drop zone in Baltimore. The four selected soldiers would make up the aptly named Strike One and would be rotated out with the other eight soldiers at XCOM's disposal when the need arose. They would be landing in what appeared to be a gas station and convenience store with a connecting rest area for big rigs with a couple still parked with the driver's corpses in them.

The four soldiers had finished the briefing and were currently lost in their own thoughts as they were sizing up the other squad members. First up, we have acting squad leader Rk. Tatyana Zaytseva, 23 years old from St. Petersburg, Russia. She stood at 5' 10'' and had Auburn colored hair that was stylized in a bob cut that parted on the left side of her head. She was equipped with the standard rookie gear of XCOM which included the M4A1 assault rifle, the Five-Seven semi-automatic pistol, an High-Explosive (HE) grenade, and the standard XCOM Body armor.

The second member of Strike One was Rk. Caden O'Connell a 25 year old native of Belfast, North Ireland. He had reddish-blond hair that was stylized in a flat-top hair style complimented with a medium moustache, soul patch, and thick mutton chops. He was also equipped with the standard rookie gear and was currently talking to Zaytseva about the flanking possibilities, and height advantages of their projected drop zone.

The third member of the squad was Rk. Encarnacion Flores a 21 year old recruit from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was of Latin decent and was fairly tanned with black hair tied back in a spiky ponytail at the base of her neck. She was currently reassembling her assault rifle as she listened to the other two discussing battle plans.

The fourth and final member of Strike One's inaugural mission was Rk. Zoe Mikos a 23 year old recruit from Athens, Greece. She had a bronze complexion that was complimented by her brunette bob cut which was parted of the left side of her head similar to Zaytseva. She was currently shaking and attempting to calm her nerves before the mission as she wasn't prepared to go toe to toe with the aliens quite yet in her opinion.

At this point, the Skyranger began its decent into the rest area, as the ramp descended revealing the world to the newest members of Strike One.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

The squad disembarked and surveyed the area where they landed. They had two eighteen wheelers directly in front of them complimented with box cover and a forklift smack dab in No Man's Land. There was two more eighteen wheelers to the right that provided an alley to surprise any enemies that would appear in front of them. Th first one's back was open and the top was open which provided a great perch for someone to provide death from above. Finally, on their left there was another open 18 wheeler which allowed for someone to attempt and flank the enemies that should dig in to suppress the center area.

Finalizing their plan, Zaytseva made the first move as she moved to the crate cover behind the first 18 wheeler directly in front of Strike One. She immediately noticed movement and identified two Sectoids that had been in between the two trucks hoping to ambush the poor soul who entered No Man's Land. Realizing their foiled ambush, they scurried behind the two cabs of the trucks hoping t hit from long range.

"Contact! Execute the plan we talked about earlier!" she ordered as she set up on Overwatch in case the two aliens attempted to run the gap.

O'Connell moved next as he sprinted up the back of the open truck on the right and Hunkered down in his spot waiting for them to rush at Zaytseva's position. Flores took the initiative and moved around the leftmost truck going for the enemy's flank. Seeing as she couldn't make the shot until next turn she stayed back to avoid being spotted while signaling Mikos to move. Mikos moved to Zaytseva's left and took up an Overwatch position on the left of the truck, in case they attempted to flank.

The Sectoids then made their move, the first one behind the left truck took a potshot at Zaytseva and missed striking the forklift causing it to burst into flames. The other Sectoid disappeared from Zaytseva's view as it dashed down the right side of the truck hoping to flank next turn. Just then two more Sectoids made an appearance and attempted to flank Zaytseva and Mikos. One took cover behind an alien artifact and prepared to fire its Plasma weapon as the other one took position behind the truck attempting the same.

"Look out!" shouted O'Connell as he blasted the alien behind the artifact with his assault rifle striking it in the temples and causing green blood to stain the ground as it fell over dead. This gave Zaytseva enough time to move to the other truck and take cover behind the crates there as Mikos ran behind the truck's side away from the shots. Flores then made her move as she moved up to the cab of her truck and had a perfectly exposed flank shot on the Sectoid that hadn't moved last turn. Her volley of bullets entered the alien's spine and immediately severed it from his brain signaling a quick death as the life left its wide eyes.

The two remaining Sectoids took shots at O'Connell and missed both as he fell off the back of the truck to escape the volley. Using this as a distraction Flores moved across the gap and surprised the Sectoid who attempted flanking and ended him with four bullets to the chest and head. The final Sectoid attempted to run, as Zaytseva shot through the gap in between the trucks and finished it off with her own volley of bullets.

The squad regrouped and secured the area, informing the Commander of the success and brought the bodies back for examination by the Research Labs.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The four soldiers were debriefed and sent off to the Barracks to rest and recuperate before the next attack. Zaytseva had one confirmed kill and was promoted to Squaddie with a preference towards Heavy Weapons. O'Connell was also promoted to Squaddie thanks to his strategic planning and his one kill which translated to Sniper training. Flores thanks to her two kills and her preference towards Medicine gave her a promotion to Squaddie and the Support class specialization. Mikos unfortunately went without a promotion due to not killing any aliens meaning she would need a second deployment before a promotion could be issued.

"That was really bad Mikos, you could've charged ahead like us but you chose to cower in fear." chastised Zaytseva as she was enjoying some chow in the Mess Hall.

"Lay off Tatyana, you know she did her best given the situation. It was either move or be killed." scolded O'Connell as he could see the hurt in Zoe's eyes as she felt as if she let the team down with her performance.

"Look on the bright side at least no one was hurt." said Encarnacion in an optimistic tone.

"Bah that doesn't matter one day panicking is either going to get her or someone else killed just you watch!" replied Tatyana as she stormed off towards her room.

Zoe also ran off towards her room as she cried silent tears as she looked at herself in the mirror. 'Never again will I let the team down. I'll prove to them that I can fight, just you wait you bitch.'

* * *

== In Mission Control ==

The Commander had just finished his rounds around the base and had asked for the Research teams to work on Alien Materials to provide the soldiers with stronger body armor against the plasma rounds, as well as purchasing a new Medical Kit for Flores' training from Engineering. He then ordered excavation to begin to the right of the base's control room, opening up a second open space for future buildings. Currently he was scrolling down the Barracks' roster and familiarizing himself with the dossiers of the soldiers the project had managed to recruit. (AN: I'm only placing their names in here. I'll put up a more detailed list after the next chapter.)

In addition to Zaytseva, O'Connell, Flores and Mikos, the project had also recruited:

Rk. Anne Collins

Rk. Daniel Cohen

Rk. Ekwuenme Bapela

Rk. Cheng Chen

Rk. Alex Smith

Rk. Juliette Durand

Rk. Katsume Goto

Rk. Wendy Gardner

'Interesting, a perfect 50:50 ratio of male and female soldiers. I wonder how this will play out with the teams I plan to send in for later missions?'

His musings were cut short however when the alarm sounded indicating another attack on the Earth. Bringing up the map, he noticed the three locations being in Australia, Russia, and Nigeria. Noticing the difficulty of the missions, he chose the one Easy Mission in Russia as it was the perfect opportunity to train a fresh squad of four rookies. Finalizing his decision, he ordered Bradford to gather up the four selected soldiers and have them in the air within the hour.

'This is an Easy mission, what could possibly go wrong?' Famous last words.

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 **AN: And Cut! That's a wrap on the first chapter to a new story. What do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the reviews or PMs. Remember the fate of this story rests solely on your guys' shoulders. So make sure to review and read. I'm not going to put the effort into this story if it doesn't meet your guys' standards and interests. Anyway, I'll have the updated cast list on this story up on my profile after Chapter 2 so stay tuned for that. This is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK**


	2. Operation Driving Jester

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE IS BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER! What's up guys? As promised here is the second chapter of my XCOM adventure. Remember to let me know what you guys think, as the decision to keep this story alive is completely in your hands. Thanks, now let's get on with the show.**

 **Chapter 2: Operation Driving Jester**

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _'This is an Easy mission, what could possibly go wrong?' Famous last words._

 _End Flashback_

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

1:54 AM, March 2, 2015 Operation Driving Jester Novgorod, Russia Alien Abduction

The fours chosen soldiers were currently on board the Skyranger and were going over a map of their intended drop zone for this mission. Apparently, the aliens had taken over a construction yard in Novgorod, Russia and were currently planning to set up shop by abducting humans for unknown purposes. That's where these four came into play as they were tasked to prevent this from happening. All four soldiers were technically classified as rookies by the XCOM ranking system, but one of them was actually on her second mission in this campaign.

The first soldier was the Greek Zoe Mikos, who was doing her second mission in an attempt to prove that she wasn't a coward and could be a successful soldier. Carrying the same equipment as last mission, she was currently meditating in an attempt to calm her nerves and anger towards Zaytseva's comments.

The second soldier on the mission was Daniel Cohen a 20 year old recruit from Jerusalem, Israel standing at 6' 1''. He had recently applied to be in Mossad but had been transferred here due to his age and lack of experience. He was fairly tanned due to growing up in a desert environment, and had a 5 o'clock shadow due to his black beard stubble being unshaved so early in the morning. Currently he was sporting a black buzz cut and was equipped with the standard rookie gear. (See last chapter for a description.) He was currently expressing an idea to Mikos about how to better control her emotions seeing how she was troubled.

The third member of the Strike team was Anne Collins, a 25 year old recruit from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. She was of African-American decent standing at 5' 7'' and had a black bob cut with her hair parted on the left side of her head. She was also equipped with the rookie gear and was conversing with the fourth team member about the possibility of taking over the raised construction area to ambush enemies at a lower elevation.

The fourth member of the team was currently expressing his agreement with Collins' suggestion and how he could flank the distracted enemies once they focused on the higher elevated target. His name was Ekwuenme Bapela and he was from Johannesburg, South Africa. He stood at 6' 3'' and was 26 years old. He was a dark-skinned African sporting a black buzz cut with an accompanying medium-length goatee and a slight sideburn growth. Just like the others he was also carrying the standard rookie gear and was anxious to get the mission started.

The rookies were then given the green light as the aircraft landed and they disembarked the ramp into the yard.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

The soldiers were currently standing at the southern tip of the yard and had a view of the yard in front of them. There was a raised construction area that had two levels and would be the perfect area to attack lower enemies. However, the soldiers speculated that the enemy would already be up there waiting, so they would have to draw their fire before progressing on a flanking route behind them. On the right side were some shipping containers that were in front of another area full of construction equipment and had another little area that was closed off from the rest of the yard. This area was more than likely where the other aliens were hiding at, so using the shipping containers for cover would be out of the question as it would open them up to fire from both directions.

Having this in mind the four took cover behind the first area of cover in the form of concrete pipes. Collins gave Cohen the signal to move to the closest shipping container on their left, and this was where he spotted the aliens on the higher level. There were two Sectoids taking cover behind the concrete wall and were planning to open up on the unsuspecting soldiers below. Cohen dashed to the other edge of the container, and was hidden from their view. Collins dashed to the position Cohen had vacated, Bapela moved up to the ramp of the raised area and took cover facing away from the aliens, and Mikos took cover behind the tallest standing concrete pipe at their starting position where she was on Overwatch.

The first Sectoid moved to a position in front of Cohen which exposed his flank to the unseen Israeli, and opened fire on Mikos' position destroying her cover. As she prepared to fire at the first Sectoid to prove that she wasn't a coward, she was hit by four plasma blasts to the chest from the second Sectoid firing from the elevated position. She was dead before she hit the ground, never firing a shot in her short career as an XCOM soldier.

Bapela panicked at the sight and moved to the shipping crates that were in front of the original starting spot, and Hunkered Down which activated the other two Sectoids in the closed off area, allowing them to set up over there.

Cohen moved to the edge of the second shipping container and took his exposed flank shot on the First Sectoid, but missed wildly. Collins moved to Cohen's vacated position and corrected his mistake sending the first Sectoid to its demise. The second Sectoid shot at Bapela's position destroying the cover, and hitting him in the chest. But, it was thankfully a grazing wound and wasn't lethal. Cohen moved around the raised area to the ladder that was originally sited as a flanking position, planning to storm up there after the Sectoid went down. Collins moved back around to the right edge of the shipping container and took out the second Sectoid and securing the raised area. Bapela moved down the left corridor between the raised area and shipping containers as he planned to flank the other Sectoids in the closed off area. Cohen stormed up the ladder and ran across the second level of the platform and spotted the two Sectoids down on the ground area. One was hiding behind the shipping containers, while the other was adjacent to the closed off area facing the squad's drop zone planning to ambush them when they came back around. Signaling Collins into taking an Overwatch position, Cohen motioned for Bapela to moved to the container's edge. This provided him with a perfect flank shot as he sent numerous M4A1 rounds into the creature's spine and kidneys.

The final Sectoid took a potshot at Cohen which was way off the mark due to his elevated position affecting the creature's accuracy. Cohen took the opportunity to nail the bastard and sending him into the afterlife with the other creatures. The three remaining members secured the rest of the yard, before they bagged up the alien corpses and Mikos' body to take back to the base with them.

"It isn't fair! Why did she have to die?" asked a frustrated Cohen as he stared at the dog tags of Mikos he'd collected from her body.

"No one knows Daniel, the lord moves in mysterious ways. It was just her time to go." reassured Bapela who was currently nursing some bad plasma burns and bruising.

"Yeah, we had no way of knowing this would happen. We just got to move on and honor her memory when we get back." confirmed Collins as she patted the young man's back.

"Thanks guys." replied Cohen as he went back to gazing out the window.

'If only there was something we could've done. I'm sorry Zoe.' were his last thoughts as he finally passed out from the stress of the mission.

* * *

==Back at Base ==

The others had already gone off to their rooms as Cohen couldn't get back to sleep. He kept thinking about Zoe and couldn't rest until he visited her memorial on the Memorial Wall in the Barracks.

He had just reached the area, and was surprised to find Tatyana down there crying as she stared at Zoe's name and photo on the wall.

"It's all my fault, I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I just wanted to toughen her up so she wouldn't die. Now I'll never be able to apologize." wailed Tatyana.

"So it was you she was referring to on the ride there!" exclaimed Daniel, alerting her to his presence.

"Yes Daniel, I feel terrible for what happened she didn't deserve to die. I just thought I was encouraging her to do better. I didn't think that my words would be taken as they were. My advice got her killed."

Looking at this broken woman in front of him, Daniel's anger began to disappear as he couldn't help but feel bad for Tatyana. She had to be feeling a whole ton of guilt to be reacting this way to Zoe's death. Slowly he moved forward and wrapped her into a tight embrace as she cried into his blue t-shirt.

"There, there Tatyana it will be okay" cooed Daniel as he rubbed her back. "Everything happens for a reason, we'll just have to carry on her memory the best we can. Her sacrifice will not be in vain."

Tatyana was shocked by the man's admission, but silently agreed with him as it would be the best way to move on and earn repentance for her death. Eventually, she stopped crying and nuzzled into the hug Daniel was giving her. Looking up into his hazel eyes she saw the concern for her, as well as the determination to honor Zoe.

"I agree Daniel, let us hold onto her dog tags as a memento to always remember those of us who don't survive this conflict. Rest in peace Zoe." she said as she claimed one of the two tags from Daniel.

"Also, thanks for being her for me you're a great person. Maybe we can get together some time during our free time off from missions." she said while blushing and kissing him on the cheek."

"Sure, I'd like that very much Tatyana." replied Daniel as he was holding the spot where she kissed him as well as sporting a noticeable blush.

"Great! Well good night"

"Let me escort you back."

"Such a gentleman, impressive for someone so young. C'mon let's go."

Just like that the two walked off together towards the barracks as the first couple amongst XCOM's ranks.

* * *

== With the Commander ==

'I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. Mikos is dead because of me, and Bapela almost joined her. I need to buckle down and keep everyone else alive.'

The Commander had gone over the reports from last night and had promoted Bapela, Collins, and Cohen for their performances during the mission. Bapela would be specializing in Heavy Weapons with Tatyana, Collins would enter the Sniper program with O'Connell, and Cohen would be in the Assault soldier program learning close combat. All three soldiers were promoted to Squaddie and would be given the appropriate insignias for their uniforms.

The Commander than moved on to the other base's needs. He first responded to Australia's request for a Satellite and sent two Interceptors to guard it, both would arrive in three days time. Then he focused on the Research department allowing them to research the Alien Weapon Fragments, after completing the Alien Materials research. Finally, he ordered the Engineering department to finish excavating the first level of the base, as well as building two new vests to help protect the soldiers better in the field.

* * *

== Time Skip 8 Days ==

The date was March 10, 2015 and the aliens had been quiet allowing for the soldiers to train more and relax before the next mission. Daniel and Tatyana had been out on two dates during the break and were very pleased with how they went. Both were looking forward to a future together. Both were currently in the Training Grounds working on their teamwork exercises, when the alarm sounded throughout the base indicating a UFO had been spotted. The alarm then came back on ten minutes later informing them that the UFO had been shot down, but there were aliens still moving at the crash site. The two hurried to the Barracks to see who would be deployed for the next mission.

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 **AN: And cut! What'd you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the reviews. Like I promised I will be posting the** **Roster list with this chapter, so check for that on my profile page. Please read this and let me know how I did. I'll admit that I'm not a writing by trade, but I do enjoy telling stories and I can't improve them without your guys' feedback. So please review. Anyway thanks for reading. This is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK**


	3. Operation Red Palace

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! Hey guys! Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but grad school and my lack of motivation towards writing has severely hindered my progress with this story. But, at last I've found the energy to write again, and I'm hoping to get this posted before I head off to work. Anyway let's continue where we left off.**

 **Chapter 3: Operation Red Palace**

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

8:26 PM March 10, 2015 Operation Red Palace Montana, U.S.A. UFO Crash Site

The Skyranger was currently in route to a mountain range somewhere in the middle of Montana, U.S.A.. The alien UFO had crash-landed in the middle of a valley and had a few surviving crew members patrolling the area around it. The valley itself had a cliff overlooking it on the right side, which would act as a perfect sniper's perch, while there was sufficient tree and rock cover shielding any approaches from the front of the craft. Behind the cliff face on the right side was another small valley that may have aliens camped out there to prevent any flanking of the UFO from the right.

Currently, the squad was conducting its routine weapons check before deploying on the ground to neutralize the alien activity. The squad consisted of both Tatyana and Daniel, as their teamwork would be invaluable to the squad on this mission. Tatyana was equipped with the standard issue SAW light machine gun, and the RPG-7 rocket launcher, with the extra insurance of the new Nano-fiber vest Engineering had just built. Daniel was equipped with a Remington 870 shotgun and the Five Seven pistol along with the other of the two new vests. He would be needing it since he would need to get up close and personal with the aliens in order for his shotgun to do any semblance of damage. The other two squad members for the mission were Caden O'Connell who was equipped with the Barrett 50 cal. sniper rifle, and Encarnacion Flores, who would be acting as the squad's medic with the new Medkit and her original M4A1 assault rifle.

The descent began, as the squad confirmed the final plan for the mission. O'Connell would provide sniper overwatch from the cliff face, while Flores would clear the right valley of any aliens present. Tatyana and Daniel would use the rock cover to advance to the door of the craft, and eliminate any hostiles inside before assisting with the cleanup of the right side. The door opened and the squad entered the field of battle.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

Part one of the plan went off without a hitch, as all four soldiers were able to reach their areas without any resistance from the aliens. O'Connell had spotted the two aliens on the right side, and was quick to suppress one with his pistol, while Flores moved to a flanking position on their right side. The aliens were so preoccupied with O'Connell that they never noticed the flash from Flores' gun which lead to the first alien being riddled with four bullets to his chest ending his life. The second on turned and prepared to fire on Flores, but exposed his head to O'Connell, and he didn't waste his opportunity as he ended the alien with a headshot sending his brain matter out the front of his head.

* * *

== With Tatyana and Daniel ==

Zaytseva and Cohen had used the cover of the rocks to get to within ten feet of the UFO's front door, when the aliens opened fire on their position, sending them diving back behind the rocks for cover. The two Sectoids had almost got them due to their lack of attention, but they were still alive and now had a chance to capitalize on their missed opportunity. Zaytseva fired on the first alien with her SAW and riddled him with bullets, while Cohen used his new ability of Run n' Gun and moved to within ten inches of the second Sectoid and blasted him full of lead as the shotgun shell spread sent him back a good ten feet with no light left in his eyes. The two then moved to either side of the UFO door, and waited for O'Connell and Flores to be in position on the cliff face before entering the UFO.

Once the door opened, they noticed that no other aliens were inside, which seemed odd and the alien power source was still intact despite the crash landing. As they moved to the source to investigate it, Dr. Shen warned them that the source was harnessing a massive amount of power to keep that ship flying, so he urged them to not hit it with their bullets, as the resulting explosion would be catastrophic for them. The two pondered about what to do next, as an alien materialized out of thin air.

"Our readings can't be right! If they were, that's a being of almost pure energy!"

Said being was an orange crystalline object that stood a good few inches taller than the soldiers, and was equipped with what looks like an plasma rifle which seemed to pack more of a punch than the pistols used by the Sectoids. While still in shock about the aliens sudden appearance, Cohen dove onto Zaytseva and got them behind a damaged computer console, before the alien could riddle her with plasma. Despite the new vests they were wearing, Cohen didn't want to take any chances of them stopping the plasma rounds quite yet.

"Hey O'Connell, Flores! Either of you have a shot on that thing?"

"No my rifle doesn't have a chance of hitting him." replied Flores

"I have one! Firing!" exclaimed O'Connell

The shot itself ricocheted of a console behind the new alien, which caused it to turn towards O'Connell and prepare to fire on his elevated position. This was just the distraction that Cohen needed, as he popped up behind the alien and delivered a buckshot round to the creature's back which caused it to fall face forward onto the UFO floor and dissipate back into nothingness. The surprised soldiers picked themselves up, and radioed the base letting them know about the mission success and proceeded to begin the procedure of gathering the bodies, and preparing the power source for transport back on the Skyranger.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

"Alright, what the hell was that creature!?" asked Bradford.

"My team and I agree, that it is an alien made of almost pure energy, but it appears nothing like the others. We've dubbed it the Outsider." replied Dr. Vahlen.

"Well, now we've got another problem to deal with besides the Sectoids."

"I'm sure that our soldiers can handle it Bradford. After all, the Commander will ensure that nothing happens to them."

"I highly doubt that, remember what happened to Mikos last mission?"

"That was bad luck, she had great cover that was disintegrated, before a second alien finished the job. Those things happen Bradford and there's nothing we can do but move on and try to prevent it from happening again."

"I hope you're right doctor. I'll go inform the Commander of the latest regarding this alien. Good night."

* * *

== Two Weeks Later ==

The Commander had been busy keeping up with the happenings of the base during the past two weeks. None of the soldiers had been promoted during that last mission, as they hadn't earned enough experience to warrant a promotion to Corporal. But, they had been upgraded with two new S.C.O.P.E.S. that the Engineering department had built from the Research done on the Alien Weapons Fragments. This would increase the soldiers' accuracy in the field by ten percent. The Research department had then begun its focus on XENO-Biology which would allow for a better understanding of the aliens' physiology and how to attack their weaknesses in battle.

Everything was moving along smoothly, until the alarm sounded indicating another alien abduction had occurred. This time it was on a larger scale, as the mission difficulty had been upgraded from and Easy mission to a Medium mission. This meant that more aliens had attacked and would need to be incapacitated before considering the mission a success.

The Commander looked at his available roster, and noticed that a large amount were still Rookies, meaning he would need to send one of them to gain combat experience on this mission to move upward in rank. Knowing that sending more than one would be jeopardizing the mission's likelihood to succeed, he decided on only sending one rookie with the team. Hopefully this one would fare better, than the last one.

* * *

 **AN: And Cut! We'll stop it right there for now. Make sure to tune in next time to figure out which rookie from the list will be sent on this mission. (The list is on my profile if you're wondering where it is.) Remember to read, review and favorite this story, as you guys control this story's life on here. Also, please check out my other stories on here and let me know how they are. Until next time this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK**


	4. Operation Hot Whisper

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! It feels good to be back guys and I'm sorry for the long wait in between chapters, but I stopped caring after school started back up. But now, I'm bored with grad school and decided to write this to pass the time to my next batch of assignments. I've decided to bring this story out of discontinuation limbo because it felt wrong to rob you guys of the last two missions that I still have notes on. I'm willing to give this story a chance to gain some momentum and will wait to see how FanFiction responds before playing some more missions in this timeframe. (Though it's a safe bet I will continue to play this series and update because I'm a huge gamer and love the XCOM series.) Anyway on with the show!**

 **Chapter 4: Operation Hot Whisper**

* * *

== Nigerian Airspace ==

3:04 AM EST March 24, 2015 Operation Hot Whisper Ibadan, Nigeria Alien Abduction

The Commander made the decision and dispatched the four soldiers toward the hot zone that had developed in Nigeria. The four soldiers were currently huddled around the hologram showing the area where they would be deployed.

The current drop site was a construction yard smack dab in the middle of a roadway in a more developed portion of the city. To the North from the intended drop site was the construction site that was lowered into a pit which had cinderblocks and pipes lining either side. To the West was a set of portable toilets and a grouping of 8 cars parke with their lights still on from when they were abandoned during the alien attack. To the East there was a Tractor trailer that had also been abandoned during the attack. The trailer itself was open on the side and fed into the pit where the construction supplies were being unloaded to finish the job. Further North there was a bus that was shielding the site from the rest of the roadway where the older supplies were being stored for later usage.

The squad themselves were planning to link up behind a crane that was at the South end of the site before branching off to cover the various approaches towards the bus. Two would go up the middle distracting the aliens while the other two would branch off to cover the West and East approaches.

The members currently undertaking this mission were Sq. Anne Collins who would be providing Sniper overwatch from the vehicle cover overlooking the Western approach. Sq. Ekwuenme Bapela would cover the Eastern approach from the tractor trailer and also provide overwatch with his SAW. Sq. Encarnacion Flores, the Argentina medic, would charge the middle with the fourth member of the squad to hopefully keep them alive. The fourth squad member was Rk. Cheng Chen who would be experiencing his first taste of combat and be right in the thick of things. Chen was one of the oldest rookies on the roster despite being just 28 years old and hailed from Beijing, China. He spent time in the Chinese military before being approached by XCOM to be in the initial rookie class. He stood at approximately 6' 2'' and was of Asian descent obviously. He sported medium length brown hair that hung to his shoulders and sported small matching sideburns. He also had a faint 5 o'clock shadow from recently shaving before the mission was called. Currently he was thinking to himself about the upcoming mission.

'They may all be higher rank than me, but I'm the oldest one here. I need to step up and show a good example to show them that I belong here and that I'm not some old man.'

The four were alerted to the Skyranger reaching their destination as it began its descent to the Earth below.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

The four were dropped off at the southern end of the area just as planned and huddled behind the crane where they all went over the plan one last time before breaking off into the three groups and went about their mission objectives.

* * *

== Collins' POV ==

After separating from the squad I made my way over to the closest vehicle which happened to be a Chevy 4-door Silverado. With good cover I peaked down the alley set up between the two rows of cars and noticed a truck cabin that had been detached from its trailer a few hundred yards that would provide cover for me to reach the bus. Moving silently I reached the final row of the cars and noticed two Sectoids that were currently examining one of the green cocooned humans and weren't facing my direction. Pulling out my Barrett I lined up my first shot and squeezed the trigger causing one alien's head to explode and fall lifelessly to the ground.

The other Sectoid shouted off a warning to its other hidden brethren before running behind the truck cabin for cover. I calmly waited for it to pop out again oblivious to everything going on around me. It was just me and the target, as I sat and waited.

* * *

== Bapela's POV ==

Carrying the heavy equipment takes a lot out of a person. 'That damn SAW will be the death of me if I don't start going to the weight room more often. Hopefully I don't get shot again this time.'

Radioing to my team that the East side was clear, I hunkered down behind the tractor trailer and waited for the aliens to make their appearance. Though the sound of Collins' Barrett signaled that I wouldn't have to wait long.

* * *

== With Flores and Chen ==

"Okay old man, stay here and cover me as I move up to that pit for a closer look. Hopefully they're still unaware of our presence and we can take them out quickly." ordered Flores as she moved to the pit's edge.

'I'm not that old!' thought Chen as he reluctantly stayed behind the crane with an eye on their surroundings.

Flores peered into the pit and noticed that three Sectoids were camped out and unaware of her presence above them.

'Perfect. Now I can just take them out before they even know I was here. I just wish I had a grenade with me, but the medkit is needed to keep my squad alive.' thought Flores as she raised he M4A1 to take out the first alien. Then Collins' Barrett sang out and the Sectoid warning was sounded. The three looked up and noticed Flores and readied their plasma weapons.

'Shit!' was Flores' lone thought as she unloaded her clip into the three aliens catching two of them flush in the chest while the third one destroyed the cover she was hiding behind.

'Fuck! Now what?!"

* * *

== Chen's POV ==

As I heard Collins' rifle discharge I knew that things were about to kick off, and I was proven right as I saw Flores unload into the pit. I thought that she had eliminated the threat when her cover was disintegrated by plasma rounds and she dove backwards. A Sectoid then jumped out of the pit and prepared to end her before I raised my rifle and fired.

* * *

== Flores' POV ==

I was going to die here. There was no way that I could reload my weapon and raise it to shot this alien before he ended me. I was so young and had a promising life ahead of me, at least I'll be at peace. I waited for the pain that never came, as I heard a rattling of bullets and the Sectoid crumpled to the ground with bullet holes up and down its body. Looking back I saw Chen running up to me and pulling me up off the ground and making sure that I wasn't hurt. I felt really bad for calling him old man now, but I was still grateful for him saving my life.

* * *

== Bapela's POV ==

Looking back towards the commotion I saw Chen checking Flores over for any injuries and breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully no one was hurt, and now to check over the remaining portions of the battlefield. I cautiously moved around to the rear of the truck where I notice that there is a Sectoid hiding behind the unhitched trailer and is staring down towards the parked cars. Seeing him distracted and flanked I brought my SAW up to fire and unloaded on the tiny alien. He never stood a chance. Taking a moment to relish in my victory, I pressed onwards to a pile of concrete pipes and waited for the others to catch back up.

* * *

== Collins' POV ==

Hearing the Sectoid scream, I knew that Bapela had eliminated my prey. Wishing that I had got him instead, I shrugged my shoulders and moved up to the trailer where I noticed that the final 3 Sectoids were huddled near the old construction equipment near the bus. I had a clear shot, but waited for the others to get in position as it would be better for all four of us to fire upon them instead of just myself and Bapela.

* * *

== With Flores and Chen ==

The two had reached the bus and were preparing to peek out, when Flores' foot knocked into a small lead pipe on the ground causing it to roll across the street. Hearing the noise, the three aliens watched it as it rolled, and seeing the opportunity Flores reacted. She opened up on the creatures and caught one with some rounds to the face before her gun jammed.

Hearing this, she looked down before burning hot plasma hit her right leg leaving a nice sized hole in it. Chen quickly pulled her behind cover and began providing potshots while she took to patching up her wound with the medkit.

* * *

== With Bapela ==

Seeing Flores go down, made Bapela jump out of his cover and open up on the two remaining Sectoids who were busy focusing on Flores. His SAW ripped into the side of one alien as it fell over with green blood flowing from its wounds. It tried to crawl back to its ally before it just became motionless signaling death via blood loss. The final Sectoid became enraged and launched plasma at Bapela who was too slow to dodge and got hit in his right shoulder causing him to drop his machine gun and dive back behind cover weaponless.

* * *

== With Collins ==

Realizing that the situation was quickly deteriorating, Collins rushed past the pinned down twosome and made it to the far end of the bus where the enraged Sectoid was holed up and had hit Bapela. Pulling out her Five Seven semi-automatic pistol, Collins lined up her shot and executed the Sectoid without remorse.

Seeing that the rest of the area was secure, she radioed into command signaling that the mission was a success. Receiving the confirmation from ops, she raced over to Bapela, picked him up, and started assisting him in walking back to the Skyranger after recovering his gun.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The four soldiers were quickly transported back to base so the doctors could look over the two wounded soldiers. Both were going to be sidelined for about eight days so that way their wound could heal properly.

Chen was promoted to Squaddie for being able to claim his first skill, and decided to pursue the Support soldier path as he was able to help dress Bapela's wound once they got back to the Skyranger. Flores was promoted to Corporal for earning her fifth and sixth confirmed kills, as well as surviving her third mission. Her new insignia were delivered to the Infirmary so she could sew them onto her uniform at the first opportunity. She chose to add the Sprinter perk to her arsenal which would allow her to reach her allies quicker if they were hurt.

Elsewhere, the Research team had finished the Xeno-Biology assignment and were currently beginning the research on the Arc Thrower which would allow for the capturing of an alien by shocking it with large amounts of electricity which would overload their nervous system and cause them to pass out.

While the research team was occupied with that, the Engineering team began building the Alien Containment facility which would be used to house the captured aliens for interrogation. The process was going to take approximately 8 to 10 days due to the lack of Engineers in the base at the current moment.

* * *

== 48 Hours Later ==

Two days had passed since the team had returned, and the Commander realized that the end of the month was approaching and that he would be receiving a grade based on how well XCOM had done defending the Earth. Needless to say that he was currently stressing out about it a lot.

As he tried to immerse himself in a book to take his mind off it, Bradford rushed into his office looking alarmed.

"What's the matter Bradford? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Commander, you're being requested for in the Situation Room! It appears as though the Council has an emergency that needs our immediate attention!"

"Damn and I thought we'd be off until the end of the month! Alright let's go!"

'I wonder what could possibly be wrong now?'

* * *

 **AN: We'll just stop it right there. Just in time for our first Council Mission! I wonder where the XCOM team will be sent to help them out? I have one more chapter planned out for this story so be on the lookout for that sometime within the next week or so. Remember to follow and favorite and to also leave comment about things you did or didn't like. (Not like anyone does it anyway so I'm not expecting much.) Later jabronies! This is "The Nasty One" signing off. -PRAK**


	5. Operation Severed Knife

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER! What's up everyone? Bet you guys weren't expecting another chapter so soon. But, with my birthday coming up on Saturday I figure that I'd reward you guys with the last mission I have notes on for this story. Hopefully you guys enjoy it and continue to follow this story. (Though I highly doubt it due to the lack of viewers I had to begin with.) Anyway on with the story!**

 **Chapter 5: Operation Severed Knife**

* * *

== Inside The Situation Room ==

The Commander and Bradford entered the Situation Room to find that the Council's spokesperson was already on screen and awaiting their arrival. Seeing the Commander had taken a seat and was giving him his undivided attention, the spokesperson began his appeal.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Commander. It has come to the Council's attention that one of the U.S. senators has been collaborating with the Alien forces. We would like for you to send out a team to apprehend him and bring him in for a little 'chat'."

"It's your call on this Commander. We can either ignore the request or accept it for some rewards of some sort. Personally I think we should take this mission, not only would we reduce panic in the US but we can also have a potential headache avoided by removing the traitor now." advised Bradford.

"What would be the rewards from the Council for succeeding in this mission?" inquired the Commander.

"The Council is prepared to offer one of the US's top soldiers who has experience fighting the alien threat giving them the rank of Sergeant in the XCOM program. Also, we will release a statement that will help to reduce the panic levels in the US alone. Do you accept this mission Commander?"

"The XCOM project would be happy to assist the Council in this endeavor." replied the Commander.

"Excellent, I'll have the coordinates sent to Strike One's Skyranger. Good luck Commander."

With that the connection was ended, and the two XCOM officials went over the roster to see whom was available to undertake this mission.

* * *

== In the Barracks ==

"It's nice to get to spend some time with you Tatyana. Who would've thought that I'd find such a great person when I signed up for this project." said Daniel Cohen, the Israeli Assault trooper, to his girlfriend Tatyana Zaytseva, the Russian Heavy Weapons Specialist.

"I agree Daniel, it's a nice feeling knowing what true love is. Do you think one day this will all go back to normal?"

"I don't know dearest. We can only hope."

The two then began engaging in a passionate kiss, who knows where it would've led until they were interrupted by Caden O' Connell, the Irish Sniper.

"As much as I hate doing this, we have a mission Daniel."

"What's the situation Caden?"

"I have no idea, but the word is that it comes directly from the Council themselves. We need to gear up and meet the other two soldiers in the Hangar. Everything will hopefully be explained en route to the mission site."

"Okay meet you there. I'll be back Tatyana."

"Be safe out there Daniel."

With one last kiss, the two reluctantly parted as one went off to get geared up, while the other went to check on Flores and Bapela who were still in the Infirmary.

* * *

== At the Hangar ==

Cohen and O'Connell arrived in the Hangar to find the other two members of their squad leaning up against the Skyranger waiting for them. Both noticed that they both were wearing insignias of Rookies meaning it would be their first mission against the Alien menace.

'Lovely two wet behind the ear rookies. We must be running low on experienced soldiers to have to send two of them on this type of mission.' thought O'Connell as Cohen addressed the two new soldiers.

"Welcome to XCOM guys. I understand that this will be your first mission and I hope to get you both through it alive. Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Squaddie Daniel Cohen and I'm a Assault trooper specializing in close quarters combat."

"And my name is Squaddie Caden O'Connell and I'm a Sniper, I'll be providing Overwatch for this mission as well as being co-leader for this mission with Daniel."

Both rookies were then given the chance to introduce themselves to the veterans as the foursome began boarding the Skyranger.

The first rookie was approximately 5' 7'' and had her brunette hair parted on the right side of her head and pulled back into a long ponytail that reached the middle of her back.

"My name is Juliette Durand and I'm 19 years of age. I joined the XCOM project directly out of high school because I wanted to make my family and country proud."

As she spoke the others picked up that she was from France based on her accent. They both welcomed her to the squad and turned their attention to the other male rookie. He was unnaturally tall standing at 6' 6'' and had sun-kissed blond hair. He had a medium length goatee, and his medium length hair was stylized into a fauxhawk.

"Nice to meet you all, my name is Alex Smith. I'm also 19 years old and hail from Gainesville, Florida, USA. I joined XCOM out of high school because I knew I wasn't smart enough to get into college and I wanted to do something with my life."

Nodding in understanding the other three welcomed him as the Skyranger took off heading for the mission site.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

9:45 PM CST March 26, 2015 Operation Severed Knife Kansas City, Missouri, USA Target Escort Mission

Strike One had received Bradford's briefing regarding the target's supposed dealings with the Aliens and were determined to bring him to justice before he betrayed them. They learned that his last dealing with the Aliens had gone south and he'd been ambushed in an urban portion of Kansas City. The target had taken cover in an abandoned Laundromat that was opposite of a bookstore. The two buildings had a narrow alley separating them, and was a perfect kill zone for any aliens that decided to take residence on the roof of the two buildings.

Realizing the severity of the situation, O'Connell would scale up to the roof of the bookstore and provide covering fire for the squad down below. Smith, Cohen and Durand would apprehend the target and then guide him to the Skyranger through the bookstore. One of them would volunteer as bait in the alley while the other two stuck with the target because they didn't trust him alone with just one of them.

Agreeing to the plan the four went about checking their weapons for the last time, before preparing to disembark as the Skyranger began its descent to the Earth below.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

The four quickly made their way down the alley as they reached the Laundromat with no resistance which surprised the two younger members of the squad, but Cohen and O'Connell knew better. The aliens were just using them to reveal the target's position before they moved in to kill them and him.

O'Connell made his way across the alley and up to the roof of the bookstore via the drainpipe. Reaching the roof he set up his Sniper's nest, before signaling Cohen to move in and apprehend the target.

The door was violently removed from its hinges via Cohen's foot as they breached the Laundromat and began searching for the target. It didn't take long as they heard a person cowering in fear behind a washer as they cocked their weapons at the noise and turning on their under-barrel flashlights.

"Come out now with your hands up! We now that it is you Senator Thorne you have until the count of five before we open fire!" commanded Cohen.

"Alright don't shoot! My hands are up!" replied an angry and annoyed William Thorne.

Thorne was a Republican representing the state of Missouri in the United States senate. He stood at 6' 1' and appeared to be around 38 years of age and had his dirty blonde hair trimmed short, but not as short as a buzz cut.

"What is this about! I demand answers!"

"William Thorne for suspected treason against the US government and the human race you're being brought in for questioning. You can either come voluntarily or we can bring you in by force." replied Cohen in an aggravated tone.

"This is absurd! You people think I would turn on my country?!"

"We don't think we know asshole! So come along before I put a bullet in your kneecap!" replied Smith as he was fed up with the man already.

"Stand down Smith! Take your anger out on the aliens instead of this worm. They'll be here shortly."

"How do you know this Daniel?" asked Durand

"It was pretty easy to figure out since they didn't attack us on the way in. They wanted us to find Thorne for them so that way they could move in and kill him and us in one pass." explained Cohen as he slapped the cuffs on Thorne.

"That explains why it was so easy to find him." replied Durand in an understanding tone.

"Uh guys? I hate to break up the little argument you're having but we have company moving in on your six!" exclaimed O'Connell.

"Roger that Caden. Smith take aim at the door on the right. I'll take the one on the left." ordered Cohen as he chambered a round in his Remington 870 shotgun.

The two waited as two Sectoids burst into the room with their plasma pistols aiming for Thorne, but a shotgun blast and a barrage of M4A1 rounds silenced the two creatures before they could open fire.

"Smith run down the alley as the bait, while Durand and I escort Mr. Thorne back to the Skyranger through the bookstore. Keep your head down and don't take any unnecessary risks, O'Connell will keep you covered."

"Roger that Daniel. Wish me luck." replied Smith as he took off running down the alley.

* * *

== With O'Connell ==

After seeing Smith book it down the alley, he noticed a new creature that had dropped down onto the roof of the Laundromat that was taking aim at Smith's back. The creature itself looked almost human in nature, although it was extremely thin and wore some tiny round shades similar to what hippies wore in the 70's to cover its eyes. Upon closer inspection the creature's eyes looked reptilian in nature. The alien wore a blue suit and had short black hair, and was equipped with a plasma rifle which looked like it could deal some serious damage.

"SMITH GET DOWN!" exclaimed O'Connell as he took aim towards the creature with his Barrett .50 Caliber sniper rifle and unloaded a shot into its cranium. The creature's body jerked back and released a small cloud of green gaseous vapors that seemed to linger in the air for a bit before dissipating into the atmosphere.

O'Connell jumped on his radio to warn the others about the new alien threat.

* * *

== With Cohen and Durand ==

The two heard O'Connell's shot and hoped that Smith was alright before their radios crackled to life with O'Connell's voice.

"The aliens have a new type of soldier guys. It looks almost human in nature, but its eyes are reptilian in nature which give it away. They are wearing blue suits and are carrying plasma rifles which look like they could pack a serious wallop. Also, don't get too close to them once you kill them. They release a gas cloud that I'm willing to bet is poisonous."

"Thanks for the heads up Caden." replied Cohen.

"You're wel-AAAH!" was O'Connell's reply before only static was heard.

* * *

== O'Connell's POV ==

I had been blindsided by the rounds that hit me in the back. I was too preoccupied with the radio and forgot to check the surroundings.

'Man my back is killing me.'

I looked back and saw another one of those creature's towering over me and raising his Plasma Rifle to finish me off.

'Is this how it ends?'

I then saw that the alien had dropped his gun and fallen backwards from a rifle bullet being lodged in his head. The alien then released its glass cloud which I had to get away from, but the pain in my body was making that difficult. Thankfully I was able to crawl away before my position was engulfed and using the ledge of the building as a crutch I looked down to see Smith looking up at me anxiously.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I took some rounds to my back." I replied as I turned around for him to look at it for me.

"How's it look"

"Not bad, looks like your vest stopped the rounds before they could penetrate into your skin. Though you may have some big bruises for awhile."

"Thanks Alex. Now let's move towards the Skyranger."

* * *

== With Cohen and Durand ==

The two were making their way quietly through the bookstore with their captive in tow. Thorne appeared to be quietly accepting his fate, as he hadn't spoken out at all since the shooting started.

The two were about to reach the exit door, when the door was blasted off its hinges by plasma rounds that forced them to find cover behind a row of bookshelves. Peeking around the corner, Cohen saw two of the thin aliens taking covering behind the door before they launched some plasma at Cohen taking away the bookshelf he'd been behind before diving to safety.

"Juliette you're going to have to hit them. My shotgun is useless at this range."

"I don't know if I can hit them Daniel. I never was the best shot at the training sessions."

"Just relax and think about your family. Thinking about them may calm your nerves enough to hit these two."

"Okay Daniel I'll try."

Juliette took a moment to shut her eyes and calm down her breathing before her face transformed into a more peaceful expression as she thought of her family back home. Trying to protect them was the reason she joined XCOM, now she had to come through for those she loved. Opening her eyes she leaned out and fired off a burst of bullets that caught one of the aliens in the head as he fell back and released his gas cloud.

The other alien was more fortunate as he was only hit in his hand. However, that was the hand holding his rifle as it fell to the floor in the open doorway. He reached out to grab it with his good hand, but that was his fatal mistake as four more bullets found their way into his chest as he fell back lifeless next to his fallen comrade and released a similar gas cloud.

As the fumes tempered off into the atmosphere, the two soldiers grabbed their tagalong and brought him out of the bookstore and towards the waiting Skyranger.

The ramp of the Skyranger lowered to the Earth as the five humans entered its seating area and strapped in for the ride back to the base.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

Thorne was handed over to Bradford who delivered him to the waiting Council security members who took him away from the base. No one knows what happened to him afterwards, but it probably wasn't good.

The panic level in the US had diminished to the lowest possible level, and the XCOM project breathed a sigh of relief at the mission being a success.

The four soldiers were all promoted following their mission performance. They showed great promise together, and they looked forward to working together again in the future. Cohen and O'Connell were both promoted to Corporal after surviving their third mission against the aliens. Cohen had decided to learn the Tactical Sense ability which would allow him to gain plus five defense for every enemy in his sightline up to plus twenty. O'Connell had decided to learn the Squadsight ability which would allow him to accurately hit any enemy his allies could see, that he had a clear unobstructed shot at.

Both Durand and Smith were promoted to Squaddie and given their insignias for their uniforms. Durand had decided to take the Support soldier role as she figured she was a much better medic than a shooter. Smith had taken the Assault soldier role, for his willingness to take the fight to the aliens, as well as the fierceness he showed when taking them on in combat.

* * *

== Six Days Later ==

It was the 1st of April and the Commander had been summoned to the Situation Room where the Council would present their monthly assessment of how well the XCOM project was doing. It reminded the Commander of a report card because it was basically a summary of what they did over the month, where they needed to improve, and the grade the Council gave them.

Thankfully no Council members were overly displeased with their performance as they had unanimously voted to give them an A for their grade. The project had been able to complete three abduction missions, one council mission, and one UFO had been shot down and raided. The project had also managed to launch one satellite, and completed three research projects.

As rewards for their performance, they had been given one scientist from the US, three engineers (two from Australia and one from the US), and a new soldier from the US that would arrive later today. They were also rewarded with an increase of their monthly funding to 415 credits.

After the Council had left from delivering the grade, the Commander looked over the updated Panic Levels on the monitor in front of him:

1: USA, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and Nigeria

2: Canada, United Kingdom, Russia, France, China, Japan. India, and Egypt

3: Mexico, Germany, and South Africa

4/5: N/A

His final order of business was to look over the roster of his Engineers, Scientists and Soldiers as well as visiting the Memorial Wall. Looking over the roster he noticed that he had amassed 12 Engineers, 6 Scientists and still had his starting number of 12 soldiers.

'I may have to go out and recruit more scientists at the rate we're going.'

Reaching his destination, the Commander looked up at the lone name and photo that had been etched into the Memorial Wall:

Name: Zoe Mikos Kills: 0 Missions: 2 Last Op: Operation Driving Jester (Chapter 2) Date of Death: March 2, 2015 (Plasma Pistol Rounds to Chest)

'I'm truly sorry for sending you on that mission Zoe. I hope that you're at peace in the afterlife. I pray that this list stays small and doesn't grow over the coming months. This is going to be a long war.'

Giving off a final salute to Zoe's name, the Commander turned and headed back to his office to prepare for the days' events. The second month of the war had begun.

* * *

 **AN: That looks like the best place to leave off. And with this chapter that marks the end of the first month of the war. I will begin playing the next month shortly and will get chapters out as soon as possible. However, graduate school may make that a little difficult so please bear with me and don't give up on this story. Remember to leave a comment about what you did or didn't like. I love hearing from you guys and really want my writing to get better. Also, remember to follow and favorite if you enjoy the story. Later jabronies. This is "The Nasty One" signing off. -PRAK**


	6. XCOM Active Roster End of March

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **Yes, that is right I'm back for now to give you guys another chapter as promised. However, before I do that I wanted to give you guys a short overview of the soldiers presently enrolled in the XCOM program as well as their ranks and stats since last chapter contained the end of the first month. So this is not a chapter, more like a mini-chapter. Anyway listed below is the XCOM Active Roster that reveals the soldier acquired from the Council Mission in Chapter 5. The new chapter will be posted later. -PRAK**

* * *

 **XCOM Active Roster**

Soldier Name Gender Age Country of Origin Number of Missions Number of Kills Class Nickname Status Rank Date of Enlistment

* * *

Tatyana Zaytseva Female 23 Russia 2 2 Heavy N/A Active Squaddie 3/1/2015

Caden O'Connell Male 25 Ireland 3 3 Sniper N/A Active Corporal 3/1/2015

Encarnacion Flores Female 21 Greece 3 6 Support N/A Wounded (1 Day) Corporal 3/1/2015

Anne Collins Female 25 USA 2 4 Sniper N/A Active Squaddie 3/1/2015

Daniel Cohen Male 20 Israel 3 4 Assault N/A Active Corporal 3/1/2015

Ekwuenme Bapela Male 26 South Africa 2 3 Heavy N/A Wounded (1 Day) Squaddie 3/1/2015

Cheng Chen Male 28 China 1 1 Support N/A Active Squaddie 3/1/2015

Alex Smith Male 19 USA 1 2 Assault N/A Active Squaddie 3/1/2015

Juliette Durand Female 19 France 1 2 Support N/A Active Squaddie 3/1/2015

Katsume Goto Male 29 Japan 0 0 N/A N/A Active Rookie 3/1/2015

Wendy Gardner Female 20 USA 0 0 N/A N/A Active Rookie 3/1/2015

Kim Green Female 26 USA 0 0 Support Cargo Active Sergeant 4/1/2015


	7. Operation Swift Line

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION WITH A NEW CHAPTER!**

 **Hey guys! Sorry about yesterday, but I began typing the next chapter and I just ended up falling asleep and being unable to finish it before grad school today. However, here it is now and I hope you all enjoy it. Also, as a side note Chapter Four is no longer a Discontinuation Notice, it is now an actual mission (Operation Hot Whisper) so check it out please. Anyway on with the story!**

 **Chapter 6: Operation Swift Line**

* * *

A lot had happened over the past four days as the XCOM base was kept busy while waiting for the next alien attack to occur. For starters the Engineering department had made great progress in getting the first layer of the base excavated and ready for construction. They started constructing a second satellite uplink which would allow for two or three more satellites to be sent up in the sky to help with the patrols. After that order had been given the aforementioned facility would need two weeks to be constructed, so they also started work on building an additional two satellites that would be ready to launch a week after the new uplink was up and running.

Moving on to the Barracks, the new Sergeant had arrived at the base and had been brought up to speed in her training. Sgt. Kim "Cargo" Green had been in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia when the attacks started. Her base had come under attack from the hostiles when they discovered it about four days into the fighting. Her squad had managed to hold off the alien invaders and kept them busy until backup arrived from Fort Benning, Georgia to finally push them back. After she heard about the XCOM project's exploits around the world she saw her chance to volunteer and help in the fight against the aliens more so then she already had. Cargo is 26 years old, stands at 5' 8'', and has her brunette, neck long hair pulled back into a spiked ponytail.

The Commander had also authorized the hiring of three new rookies to bring the soldier total up to 15. This was in large part due to the purchasing of Squad Size 1 with a capable Sergeant in the barracks allowing for five man squads to be sent on missions instead of just four. Hopefully, the extra firepower would allow missions to go off smoothly and without a hitch. Currently, the aforementioned rookies had just arrived and were being given a tour of the base by the recently returned Bapela and Flores who weren't cleared to return to combat yet, but could resume training. As they were exploring the base, an alarm went off signaling another round of abductions had been detected and that Strike One would be mobilizing to counteract the threat.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

The now five man squad of Strike One was currently equipped and en route to the latest Abduction site in South Africa. This particular site was chosen due to the offer of a new soldier to help strengthen XCOM's barracks since it allowed for a backup Sergeant to be present if Cargo was unavailable for some reason. The only problem was that it was classified as a Very Difficult mission meaning there would be about ten aliens or so present when they touched down. Strike One would need to exercise a great amount of caution when setting down otherwise there would be five empty spots in the Barracks come tomorrow morning.

Officially leading the squad would be Cargo since she's already survived a base invasion meaning she would be able to hold her own in a fight, plus she was the highest ranking soldier in the Barracks. Unofficially, O'Connell would be in charge as he knew how the others operated and they had more trust in him, instead of Cargo who was only on her first mission. The third squad member would be Zaytseva who was currently finishing checking over her machine gun for any problems that may pop up during the mission. She volunteered for this mission to see how Cargo would handle herself in the field, plus it never hurt to make a new friend for when she wasn't hanging with Daniel back at base.

The final two members of the squad were two rookies who would be having their first combat experience against the Aliens. (Lucky them). The first rookie stood at 6' 1'' and had his brown hair trimmed very short via a buzz-cut, and had a thick handlebar moustache. He was the oldest soldier in the base at 29, named Katsume Goto. Having been a soldier all his life back in Japan he had a very easy transition to the XCOM lifestyle of constant training and missions.

The other rookie stood at 5' 7'' and had her red hair parted down the center of her scalp and tied back into a spiked ponytail. Her name was Wendy Gardner and she is a young 20 years of age and had volunteered for the project instead of staying at college because she thought it would be an exciting career choice instead of becoming an lawyer like her family hoped. She actually resided fairly close to the XCOM base having been living in Lincoln, Nebraska prior to the invasion. (The base is located in Omaha, Nebraska for future reference).

Katsume had taken it upon himself to look out for the excitable Wendy as he knew what a soldier faces out in the field. This made him want to be there to help the young American through the stress and the sobering realization that she would undoubtedly face once the mission ended. They were currently studying the map and noting the distinct lack of cover on the ground. All that would be offered would be a few cars that lead up to two freight trucks which would provide the best cover, excluding the enclosed bus stops that were dead center on the map.

The soldiers were jolted to attention when the Skyranger began its descent to the wet roadway where this battle would take place. Hopefully all of them would make it out of this encounter alive.

* * *

== On the Ground =

6:00 PM EST Raining April 5, 2015 Operation Swift Line Bloemfontein, South Africa Alien Abduction Mission

The five soldiers were dropped behind an enclosed bus stop that was situated between two roadways that ran parallel to one another to the North. They were intersected by a perpendicular road that ran West to East. On the left side of the bus stop was two taxi cabs, as well as a Blue SUV that had the best cover for the soldiers parked lengthwise on the intersection of the cross street and the left road. Past that were several vehicles that provided minimal cover that lead up to a freight truck as well as a bus stop identical to theirs across from them. On the right side of the stop was also a gray SUV parked in the middle of the right road pointing north and beyond that was a red Sedan that provided minimal cover, but would allow them to duck behind a cop car before advancing to a freight truck. Directly in front of the bus stop was a trash bin that provided good cover, and in front of that was a blue mailbox that provided okay cover, but was open to fire from both freight trucks if the aliens were hiding there.

The squad began advancing in unison to the bus stop. From there Cargo and Zaytseva went left around the bus stop towards the trash bin, while O'Connell, Goto, and Gardner went right. Both rookies found cover behind the gray SUV, while O'Connell chose to take cover on the right wall of the bus stop giving a clear view of the entire field which would allow him to use his Squadsight ability to its maximum potential.

Zaytseva then advanced to behind the brown sedan's trunk that was parked directly in the center of the cross street . This allowed her a view of the whole field, but didn't expose her to the other side quite yet. Cargo then began her advance past the Sedan when she spotted two Sectoids that were hunched over an abduction victim whom was unfortunate enough to be covered in the green slime the aliens used. The two Sectoids spotted her and opened fire as she ducked behind the blue SUV before the shots impacted the ground where she was previously standing.

"CONTACT!" was the shout heard over the radio before all hell broke loose.

* * *

== With O'Connell, Goto, and Gardner ==

The three XCOM soldiers were on high alert when Cargo's yell was picked up over their radios. The two rookies moved forward towards the red Sedan before Gardner went on Overwatch while Goto hunkered down to avoid being spotted. O'Connell was already on Overwatch since he hadn't moved from his spot against the bus stop's wall. This proved to be beneficial for the XCOM soldiers as three new enemies burst from behind the opposing bus stop in a mad rush for a kill.

The creatures themselves were no longer what one would describe as living, their bodies had their skin peeled back and their legs were removed leaving only a pair of robotic arms. It also appeared that the creatures had a jetpack surgically implanted in their backs giving them the ability to fly and tower over the XCOM soldiers. (It's the Floaters for those who've never played the game before).

Despite their surprise at the new foe, both Gardner and O'Connell fired upon the closest one that entered their firing range. Gardner's M4A1 rounds managed to graze the alien stunning him momentarily, which was enough for O'Connell to send a .50 caliber round courtesy of his Barrett through the creature's skull sending green blood onto the ground as his corpse crashed to the ground after his jetpack exploded. (I like to believe that the jetpacks automatically explode once the Floater dies, but this is left open for interpretation).

* * *

== Back to Cargo and Zaytseva ==

Hearing the commotion over on their right flank, Zaytseva took aim at the second flying creature and managed to wound it with her SAW as she heard the alien cry out in pain, but refocus a second later.

Cargo meanwhile moved around to the rear of the SUV which was on the extreme left of the battle area. Peeking out, she noticed that one of the Sectoids was currently hiding behind the second vehicle which was closest to the freight truck. She also saw that there was a pinkish/purple aura revolving around the Sectoid indicating that it had mind melded with its partner who was currently hiding from Cargo's sight. Taking a chance she fired upon the creature and managed to wound its left arm, but due to its increase in health from the mind merge it didn't do much. Now the aliens responded to the attack in kind.

* * *

== Battlefield Overview (3rd Person) ==

The now wounded flying creature decided to move forward to attack the soldiers who dare shoot at it. This was unfortunately a bad thing for O'Connell as he was wide open to the creature who was now right in front of him and up high. Capitalizing on its new position, the creature shot its plasma rifle at O'Connell and hit him in his side nicking a kidney and open a wound in his side.

"Ah Motherfuck!" shouted O'Connell as he clutched his side in an effort to slow the bleeding. Hearing his cry, Gardner spun around and tried to run back to him and get him to cover.

"WENDY NO!" shouted Goto as he tried to reach for her, but by then it was too late.

The third flying creature had its rifle already trained on her as it opened fire on her retreating form. The plasma rounds hit dead center of her back as it ripped through her armor and skin as if they were issue paper. The rounds then bisected her heart and exited out her chest before embedding into the ground sending blood out everywhere. Her body was propelled forward into the ground, as Wendy Gardner was dead before she even hit the ground.

"God Damnit! Gardner is down! I repeat Gardner is down!" shouted Goto over the radio. As if hearing the shouts, three Thin Men decided to make their appearance on the battlefield as they emerged from the cover of the bus stop. They decided to take cover behind the freight truck directly in front of Goto's position and decided to wait for the right moment to strike.

"Those are the poison containing aliens that Daniel warned me about. Stay away from them as they release the poison into the atmosphere once they die." informed Zaytseva as she was assessing the situation XCOM now found itself in.

"That's great and all, but right now we need to get O'Connell and Goto out of the jam they've put themselves in!" exclaimed Cargo as she started to take charge of the situation.

"Open fire on those clowns! Aim for the flying ones!" shouted Cargo as she manages to kill the closest floater with her M4A1, hearing it crash into the ground with a satisfying smack into the pavement.

Zaytseva missed her shot on the third flying creature, but Goto managed to wound him distracting him long enough for O'Connell to fall back behind the bus stop where he managed to tear off a piece of his pants' leg and used it to tie around his midsection to help staunch the bleeding a bit.

This small victory was short lived, as the mind melded Sectoid again made its appearance on the battlefield behind the now closer taxi cab to Cargo's front before firing on Goto's flank hitting him in his side, but the Nano-Fiber vest he was wearing kept it from breaking the skin. Using the Sectoid's confusion against it, Cargo sent a volley of bullets at it which managed to hit its chest, but its life was saved thanks to the Mind Meld once again. This allowed Goto to fall back behind the Gray SUV for better cover, while O'Connell open fired on the third flying creature effectively killing it with a bullet to the brain.

* * *

== Goto's POV ==

 _'Thank goodness I was able to fall back behind this car for better cover. This will allow me to gain my bearings about the whole situation. I wonder where the Thin Men are though?'_

Looking back out over the SUV's right side I saw two of them behind the car I was just at, but the third one was slightly to the right behind a cop car. _'There they are. Glad I don't have to go looking for them. Wait a minute what's that third one doing.'_

Before I can comprehend what I was witnessing a green gas cloud emerged from the alien's mouth and launched at my position, where I was engulfed by the noxious fumes.

 _'You've got to be fucking kidding me! They're spitting this shit at us now?_ *Cough Cough* _I think I breathed it in. Fuck me sideways!'_ *Cough Cough*

"I think it poisoned me! *Cough Cough* O shit!" Was the cry heard from Goto's radio as more plasma rounds found a way to hit his right knee.

* * *

== Back with Zaytseva, O'Connell and Cargo ==

"It can spit poison!? Daniel didn't mention this from his encounter!" exclaimed Zaytseva in shock from what the alien just did.

"That's because we didn't allow them to do it!" shouted O'Connell.

"Look out!" shouted Cargo as the closest Thin Men also spit out a cloud of poison, but it was too late as it had already impacted the area around Zaytseva exposing her to it as well.

"Fucking assholes! Eat this!" shouted Zaytseva as she drew her RPG-7 rocket launcher from her back and aimed it at the two Thin Men behind the red Sedan. The rocket made a whistling sound as it flew through the air and impacted the car sending up a huge explosion of fuel as it engulfed the two aliens behind it sending their bodies flying, as well as sending up two identical gas clouds into the atmosphere.

Capitalizing on the momentum, Cargo took aim at the last Thin Man and sent four rounds into its chest causing it to keel over backwards and explode into the green mist signaling its death.

"Nice shooting girls!" complimented O'Connell as he was aiming down his scope at the area in front of them, he was about to move up when he noticed something green. "Tatyana look out!" but it was too late as the plasma rounds hit her stomach and managed to tear through her vest, but it wasn't a fatal wound.

"Go back to where you came from asshole!" shouted O'Connell as his rifle round tore through the air and impacted with the Sectoid's head killing him instantly.

* * *

== Battle Overview ==

Sensing a small break in the battle, Goto hobbled over to the others so that way he could be healed from the poison ravishing his body. Thankfully, the Medikits that Cargo had were using a general antidote that managed to counteract the poison in his body stabilizing him for the time being. She first went about healing Goto and Zaytseva while they reloaded their weapons, then after O'Connell refused her last Medikit stating "We might need it later to stabilize a worse injury then my own.", she finally took the time to reload along with O'Connell.

* * *

== Goto's POV ==

' _Where is that second Sectoid? He's all but disappeared since we first encountered him. Unless..."_

I limped towards the Blue SUV as I peeked around its rear to see the aforementioned Sectoid that was occupying my thoughts trying to flank our position while we were reloading. Taking his surprise at my presence to my advantage, I raised my rifle and fired away sending green blood splattering to the roadway behind the alien as it collapsed lifeless to the ground.

"That's for Wendy asshole!" I shouted as the others gave me an understanding look knowing about my role as a mentor towards her. We mourned her a moment before advancing towards that second bus stop.

* * *

== Battle Overview ==

The four soldiers began moving up the left side of the map towards the second bus stop searching for any other alien threats that were present. Tatyana took point as she moved up the left side of the second taxi cab in front of the left freight truck. Cargo had moved up to take cover behind the mail box in front of the bus stop, while Goto had moved to the hood of the first taxi cab which was closest to the blue SUV. O'Connell meanwhile had hung back behind the brown Sedan to use his Squadsight ability to his advantage. As Tatyana prepared to move forward, she noticed two more Sectoids were taking cover behind one of the alien devices used to capture humans, as they were undoubtedly scared knowing that their allies were no longer alive. Sensing her presence, the two fired on her position which she dodged by diving behind the freight truck for cover as the rounds ruptured the cab's fuel tank sending it up in flames.

Using the explosion as cover, one Sectoid sprinted to the bus stop's wall for cover, while the other one remained behind the device on the far side from Zaytseva's position (right side of the device if looking at it from the South).

Tatyana peeked out and saw that the Sectoid was on the bus stop wall looking right at her previous position, sensing its distraction she whispered into her comm.

"Cargo one of the Sectoids is dead center behind the bus stop's outer wall. Your shots should be able to penetrate both walls with relative ease. Take him down."

After those words were spoken, four bullets ripped through the bus stop's wall and impacted the Sectoid's head sending it to rest on the cold, hard ground in a pool of its own blood. The other Sectoid was enraged by its friend's death and proceeded to open fire on the truck cab that Zaytseva was taking cover behind. She saw that the motor was now on fire and was going to explode in a few seconds.

Wasting no time, she rushed to the rear of the truck while it exploded sending shrapnel flying behind her. As she peered around the truck's edge she saw the Sectoid moving up cautiously to investigate the wreck for any traces of her survival.

 _'Too easy.'_ she thought as her machine gun's bullets ripped through the air and riddled the Sectoid's body with holes. After it fell over with the light leaving its' eyes, the four remaining soldiers secured the rest of the landing site. They proceeded to begin collecting the alien corpses, weapon fragments, and sealing up Gardner's body for a proper funeral in a few days upon their return to the base.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The battered squad had returned from a successful mission, but the feeling of success wasn't really registering with the squad. One look at Gardner's body bag brought forth the realization that you can die at anytime, even if it's your first mission. The squad was a little worse for wear after the first documented Very Difficult mission in XCOM's short history.

Goto was by far the worst off form the surviving members, he had come to within moments of death's door but Cargo's Medikit had saved him from certain death. His immune system was shot from the poison, and he had multiple plasma wounds in his right knee. All told he would be out for at least two and a half weeks recovering. But, on the plus side he was promoted to Squaddie where he chose the Sniper specialization to help improve his long range accuracy.

O'Connell's wound looked worse than it actually was as such he would only be missing about 4 days before being able to go back into the field. Zaytseva was in the same boat as her wounds were superficial at best so she would be out for five days. Also thanks to their mission feats of three kills each, both were being promoted to Sergeant and Corporal respectively. O'Connell chose the call-sign "Longbow" and also enrolled in Gunslinger training which would allow him to do significantly more damage with his sidearm if the need ever arose. Zaytseva chose the Bullet Swarm training which would allow her to fire her weapon twice as often from her covered position, which could serve as a distraction for the aliens while her teammates moved in to dispatch them.

Cargo was the only member of the squad to escape the mission unscathed. She had proven herself to be a great user of the Medikit, and had shown that she could persevere under pressure. Needless to say the other soldiers began to trust her more and were willing to go out on missions with her in the future.

* * *

== With the Commander ==

The Commander had been busy the past couple of hours around the base. He had gone down to the Research labs at the request of Dr. Vahlen where he was criticized for his decision to allow the soldiers to use explosives against the aliens. Vahlen understood that he had no choice in the matter if he wanted to keep Goto from dying, but he would need to avoid doing it unnecessarily or risk destroying opportunities for the research team to study the alien's weaponry and equipment.

Following that, he had dropped by the Engineering labs to check in on Dr. Shen's team's progress with the construction. There were no problems being encountered, but Shen voiced his worries about treading the same path as the aliens. He didn't want to toy with the possibility of enhancing the soldiers with mechanical parts as then we would be just as unethical as the aliens were with their flying creatures now known as Floaters in the base. The Commander assured him that it wouldn't happen and they parted ways.

* * *

== Four Days Later ==

The next four days have seen another whirlwind of activity for the XCOM personnel. The research labs had finally finished the research for the Arc Thrower, (fancy name for a taser), and were beginning to research the topic of Experimental Warfare which would take about ten days to complete. Then the Engineering department proceeded to develop an Arc Thrower for the soldiers to take into the field, as well as a second Medikit so there was less of a chance of someone dying in the field. They'd also begun construction on a third satellite after the Russian government complained of not having enough air defense against the UFOs.

In the Barracks, the South African government came through with their promise and delivered a Sergeant to the barracks to help fill the hole left by Gardner's death. The newest addition to the XCOM ranks was Sgt. Chidi "Rascal" Okeke a 6' 5'', 24 year old veteran of the South African Military. He was a veteran of two base attacks against the Tempe base located in Bloemfontein where he was serving in the Regiment Bloemspruit (Light Infantry Regiment). His arrival was met with some skepticism, but the others were willing to give him a chance after seeing Cargo's performance during the last mission.

On a sadder note, Wendy's service information and picture were engraved into the Memorial Wall right under Zoe Mikos' name, officially showing that now two soldiers' lives had been lost in the war to stop the alien invasion. Currently, all four of the soldiers from the mission were down there paying their respects to their fallen comrade.

 _Rk. Wendy Gardner 0 Kills 1 Mission Operation Swift Line 4/5/2015_

Longbow and Zaytseva had just gotten out the infirmary earlier, and were joined by Cargo and Goto, who was still in a wheelchair due to the surgery to reconstruct his knee, who wanted to pay their respects as a group.

One collective thought ran through the entire group's head _'R.I.P. Wendy you were gone too soon kid. We hope you're happy up there with Zoe.'_ The foursome were brought out of their mourning by the sounding of the base alarm indicating another UFO sighting.

"It never ends does it guys?" asked Cargo.

"Not really, but you get used to it after awhile." replied Longbow solemnly.

"Yeah, but it gets easier when you have friends to take your mind off it when you aren't out in the field. Finding reasons to enjoy yourself make these times hurt less." agreed Zaytseva.

"Give 'em Hell guys! I'll be out of this chair in no time!" exclaimed Goto.

"Yeah you keep saying that, but you look pretty comfortable old man." said Longbow while trying not to laugh and failing miserably.

The others laughed at Goto's misfortune, but he then joined in eventually as the four made their way back to the Barracks and Infirmary.

 _'Tatyana's right friends make everything better.'_ thought Cargo as she finally felt accepted by her fellow soldiers.

* * *

 **AN: And cut! That's the end of the sixth mission of "XCOM: The 69th Attempt at Human Victory". Love it? Hate it? Drop me a review and let me know so I can make it better to please you guys. Also, please check out another one of my stories entitled "Luis' Survivor: Andes", it's on my profile and is a novelization of a game that I participated in on Tengaged a few months ago. I've been looking for some feedback before posting any more chapters, but haven't gotten any so far. So please help me out as it would mean a lot to me if you guys did. Anyway see you guys later. Until next time this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	8. Operation Bloody Apollo

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? Sorry about the long gap in between chapters for this story. I was bogged down with work from grad school, and then I decided to start another story entitled "Road To The Show: The Journey of a Blockhead". If you're interested come check it out. Anyway enough babbling, on with the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Operation Bloody Apollo**

The base was scrambling to get everything together as this was the first landing of a UFO being documented in a country that had satellite coverage. Knowing this, the Commander realized that more than likely the squad being sent would face a full strength crew of about ten aliens including the Outsider. This made his decision to keep most of his more experienced troops at the base a good thing as he didn't want to risk losing an entire squad of good soldiers just like that. The Commander made the final selections, and had the five soldiers on the Skyranger heading towards the site in under ten minutes.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

Sgt. Chidi "Rascal" Okeke was nervous. He was being sent into action almost immediately after arriving at XCOM, not only that but he was being given sole command over four others who would be assisting him on the mission.

 _'Great not only am I experiencing another battle already, but I have to lead a squad that doesn't trust me into a landing site against a full strength alien crew. Fantastic.'_

Rascal decided that there wasn't going to be an easy way to shake these feelings off, and decided to recheck his equipment. He was equipped with the standard issue body armor, a Remington 870 shotgun, a Five-Seven semiautomatic pistol, and the new Arc Thrower that was recently built by the Engineers. He wasn't sure that any of the others wanted to go face to face with one of those creatures, plus he was the only qualified Assault soldier on the squad.

He proceeded to gaze around the aircraft at the other four soldiers whose lives he was going to be responsible for once the shooting started. His second in command for this mission was immediately on his right, checking over her Medikit to make sure it was properly functioning. Cpl. Encarnacion Flores was finally out of the infirmary from the wounds she sustained during Operation Hot Whisper (Chapter 4). She was itching to get back in the field as she had been cooped up for far too long in the Infirmary. She didn't mind having to follow the rookie Sgt.'s orders and was just spoiling for a fight.

Next to her was the other South African man in the squad for the mission. Sq. Ekwuenme Bapela was also just released from the infirmary after Operation Hot Whisper, and was ready to face the alien menace once again. He was just hoping that he didn't end up getting shot again as he checked over his M249 SAW for the final time. That was why he had gone ahead and equipped one of the Nano-Fiber vests the Engineers had built since no matter what he tried it was probably going to happen anyway.

The fourth member of the squad was leaning back against the wall of the Skyranger looking like she didn't have a care in the world. Sq. Anne Collins was unconcerned about the mission, as long as she got to kill some aliens she didn't mind what they had to do. Her Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle was propped up against the wall and had been thoroughly cleaned, and was ready for action with the S.C.O.P.E. already attached. She was currently engaging the fifth member of the squad in casual conversation as he excitedly went on about finally seeing some action.

Adegoke Kuumba was a soldier who originally hailed from Lagos, Nigeria and was one of the recent new recruits to arrive at XCOM. When he'd heard about the possibility to fight against the aliens he immediately volunteered as his unit, the 1st Division Infantry, hadn't seen any action recently. He was a massive man standing a 6' 2'' and weighing an impressive 265 lbs of pure muscle, he bore an imposing figure out on the battlefield. He had his black hair shaved down to his scalp, and was equipped with the standard Rookie equipment for all XCOM operatives. The only difference was that he had also gotten a S.C.O.P.E. equipped to his rifle increasing his accuracy by ten percent against all targets. He was also easily the most excited of the new rookies and just wanted to fight.

As the Skyranger began its descent to the Earth, the squad began making the final plans of attack against the UFO's location. The Skyranger would be dropping them in the middle of a wooded area that was South of the UFO. The UFO was of the small scout variety, and it was amazing that they were able to fit ten aliens in such a confined space. It had four openings at each of the ship's corners as well as one door on its East side that opened up into a large open area with minimal cover.

Immediately to the right of the starting point was a cliff that could be scaled to look out over the open field to make sure that none of the aliens attempted to flank the assault party. On the left of the squad appeared to be a shallow ditch that could be used to approach the southwest corner opening without being spotted. Said ditch lead to a small cliff that ran parallel along the West side of the UFO. It was a good fall back option, in case the first assault failed to flank behind the craft and draw the aliens to them. It was decided that Collins and Kuumba would go up the tall cliff to protect the right flank, while Flores, Rascal, and Bapela would compose the strike force. Bapela and Rascal would use the ditch and approach the southwest corner, while Flores would charge the ship head on and then use the wall as cover to reach the southeast corner opening. Satisfied with the plan, the soldiers geared up and made ready to rappel out of the Skyranger into the combat zone.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

2:00 PM ACST (Australian Central Standard Time), Sunny, April 11th, 2015, Operation Bloody Apollo, Somewhere in the Australian Wilderness, UFO Landing Mission

"We're on the ground Central." said Rascal over the radio.

"Roger that Strike One, commence Operation Bloody Apollo. Approach with extreme caution, current enemy activity at the site is unknown." replied Bradford as he gave them the green light to commence the op.

The soldiers broke out of formation and went to their assigned locations for the assault to begin. Kuumba and Collins began scaling the cliff face on the right as Flores immediately dashed for the UFO. She waited for the other two to get in position before she would advance to the door. Once she saw that Kuumba was entrenched behind a tree, and Collins was behind a rock pile, she began slowly trekking towards the door entrusting the other two to have the southwest corner covered.

* * *

== With Rascal and Bapela ==

Both men slid into the ditch and began crouch-walking towards the ship with their weapons at the ready. It was impressive that they weren't spotted as the ditch was smaller than estimated, while both men were rather large and burly individuals. They did manage to reach the corner unopposed and lined up against the right entrance, before Rascal peeked in. He immediately saw that the Outsider was materializing in front of him, and he got on the radio to warn the others.

* * *

== With Flores ==

Flores had just reached the left wall of the southeast corner when Rascal's call came through the radio.

"The Outsider has materialized. He's running right at your position Flores, be vigilant."

Hearing this, she raised her rifle and fired once the creature came into her line of sight. The four M4A1 bullets riddled the creature's back as it disappeared into nothingness signifying its defeat.

"Target is down. Preparing to breach."

* * *

== With Kuumba and Collins ==

Both waited anxiously as they watched both teams enter the UFO. They expected to immediately hear gunfire, but that was not the case as it was just silence. They began to worry when Flores' voice came over the speakers.

"UFO is clear of hostiles. Be careful you two they may be trying to flank."

Sure enough as she finished her statement, 3 Sectoids appeared across the field in Kuumba's view as he got Collins attention. He was getting ready to fire on them when he realized that they were too far out of his range to hit. Both reluctantly went on Overwatch and decided to make them come to their location.

* * *

== Inside the UFO ==

Rascal was about to go out the northwest corner of the UFO when Bapela suddenly grabbed him and threw him against the corner's wall with himself in one fluid motion. Bapela had developed a great danger sense as he'd been shot on every mission he participated in.

"Get down!" he shouted as the computer that was behind them was obliterated by three separate beams of plasma reducing it to ash.

"Thanks Ekwuenme! How many are there?" asked Rascal as he peeked out the door.

"At least three maybe more."

"Any ideas?"

"I can try to flank around the side of the UFO and get the drop on them."

"Works for me. I'll give you cover."

"Ready when you are."

Rascal switched to his pistol and fired three shots out of the UFO to distract the aliens.

"Go!"

Bapela took off and made it safely out of the UFO as the aliens opened fired on the spot where Rascal was, but did no damage to the strong shell of the UFO. Meanwhile, Flores had taken a position behind the Northeast corner wall as she patiently waited for the Sectoids to appear in front of her. The game of cat and mouse had begun.

* * *

== Back with Kuumba and Collins ==

The two sides were at a stalemate, neither one wanted to exit their good cover and run across the field to their certain death. Both were content to just wait the other side out, however they heard the sounds of something flying.

 _'O fuck! You've got to be kidding me now we're really screwed!'_ were Collins' thoughts as she prepped her rifle.

 _'What the hell is that sound?'_ wondered Kuumba, as he'd never seen the aliens before.

Both looked up to see three Floaters come into view hovering just outside of Overwatch range. The three looked down and said something to the Sectoids before beginning to fly towards the two XCOM soldiers as the Sectoids focused on the UFO.

Their common thought was _'Well shit! Let's get this party started!'_ as they opened fire on the flying menaces.

* * *

== Back with Flores ==

Flores was getting antsy, the Sectoids were supposed to have breached by now. She decided to peak out the opening to check if they were still there. Just to duck right back in as she had to dodge a blast of plasma that went whizzing by her face. As it impacted the equipment behind her, she decided to fake the alien out by taking her pistol off her belt and sliding it across the UFO floor towards the UFO's door. The Sectoid saw the pistol slide and peeked in to see if the human was with it only to have his face shot off by Flores' rifle as she was still behind the wall waiting for him.

 _'That's another one down!'_

Her thoughts were short-lived as she heard a shout over the radio.

"COLLINS! YOU BASTARDS!"

Realizing that something bad was going down she got ready to make her move.

* * *

== Back with Collins and Kuumba ==

Collins had taken her sniper shot and managed to hit the furthest Floater with her rifle, wounding him greatly. Kuumba aimed at him as well to finish him, but missed wildly as he hasn't shot at targets in the air before.

The two Floaters that were closer decided to achieve payback on their wounded brethren who decided to stay back on Overwatch to prevent the soldiers from escaping. The two raised the rifles simultaneously and aimed at Collins' rock pile cover. The first shots blew the pile away, while the next one riddled Collins' body with holes. The bullets struck both her lungs and her heart killing her instantly as she fell backwards from the recoil and landed lifelessly on the ground.

Kuumba became enraged at the site of his comrade dying before his eyes and decided to unleash hell.

"COLLINS! YOU BASTARDS!" was his war-cry as he aimed his rifle down range and dispatched the wounded Floater with a barrage of M4A1 rifle rounds effectively ending the Floater's existence on this planet.

Realizing that the human was enraged, the two Floaters stayed on Overwatch to keep him pinned while they came up with another plan of attack.

* * *

== With Bapela ==

Bapela meanwhile had finally scaled the cliff along the west wall of the craft and was currently setting up his SAW on a elevated piece of rock just outside the now revealed Sectoid's peripheral. He counted three Sectoids one of which was in front of him, another one was in front of the opening where Rascal was pinned, and the last one was further back behind some strong rock cover. He also noticed that the Sectoid right in front of him was mind-melded to the one in front of the UFO opening. He just hoped that this was the one who originated the contact and would automatically kill two of the aliens.

Bapela unleashed his barrage and watched the surprised Sectoid turn towards him, and register too late what was about to happen. The bullets tore the alien apart and left him a mess of green blood and guts as Bapela saw the mental links close and go back to the other Sectoid's position. He couldn't see it, but he then heard the telltale sound of the Sectoid death voice indicating he'd gotten the second one as well. He smiled and prepared to move forward and distract the last Sectoid of this group.

* * *

== Back in the UFO ==

Flores heard the Sectoids moving outside and quickly looked out to see one of them scrambling away behind some logs, while the second one tripped as it tried to make it there as well. Flores took the opportunity and released her last rifle rounds that impacted the Sectoid's spine killing it instantly. Hearing the fighting, Rascal ran across the UFO and made it to the southeast corner where he peeked up and saw one of the two remaining Floaters trying to flank Kuumba's position. Knowing what would happen if he allowed that to occur he took aim and fired.

* * *

== Back with Kuumba ==

Kuumba was not having a good time with the two remaining Floaters. One had dropped down in front of him behind the low rock cover, effectively making him unhittable while the other had almost flanked him and was on Overwatch preventing him from moving. He was about ready to just say "Fuck it!" and go for it, but he stopped when he saw that Rascal had snuck under the unaware Floater. This ought to be good.

* * *

== Back with Flores ==

Flores had moved across the opening to the UFO's door where she grabbed her pistol and deactivated the UFO door to view the situation. She saw that the Floater who had gone to ground level was at the bottom of the cliff face and was out of Kuumba's view. She decided to surprise him and shot four pistol rounds into his back wounding him critically, but not killing him. He turned and was so surprised that he paused at what to do, before flying away allowing Flores to reload her rifle.

* * *

== Back with Rascal ==

Rascal's shotgun peppered the Floaters underside with buckshot, wounding him but not killing him. The Floater eternally pissed that he was just shot in his underside decided to turn around and open up on whatever did that, but unfortunately for him that wouldn't be happening.

A hail of bullets whizzed through the air and impacted the Floater's skull spilling out his brain matter as he fell to the floor lifelessly without his jetpack exploding.

"Yeah take that you ugly motherfucker!" shouted Kuumba in victory. Rascal looked up and saw Kuumba pumping his fist in celebration, but that soon turned to pain as the third Floater had crept behind him and fired its plasma rounds point blank into his spine. The shots bisected his spine and heart killing Kuumba were he stood as he fell face-forward without another sound.

Enraged at the sight of his newest soldier dying, Rascal ran forward with a battle-cry and pulled out the Arc Thrower as he discharged it into the creature's face knocking him out with 20,000 volts after twitching for a few moments then lying still.

 _'Great another one down, now I need to regroup with the others.'_

"Um guys a little help? I've been shot again." said Bapela over the radio.

"Don't worry Ekwuenme we're on the way. Let's move Encarnacion!"

Both started moving towards Bapela's last location which was outside the Northwest corner of the UFO.

On the way, Flores managed to use her Overwatch on the last Sectoid as it burst from cover behind the logs leaving the one bothering Bapela as the last remaining alien. Both hustled over and saw that he was down behind some rocks cradling his side where his vest was torn from repeated plasma bullets hitting it. They needed to act quickly otherwise he was going to die.

Thinking quickly, Rascal ran forward and distracted the Sectoid, while Flores flanked it on its' right side. As it was distracted she walked right up to it and blew him away with four more rifle rounds signaling the end of the mission. Flores then proceeded to go about patching up Bapela's wound while Rascal secured the prisoner and their comrades' bodies for the return to base.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

For the surviving XCOM members this mission was a reminder that there was no limit on how many people can die on a mission. This was the first time that more than one squad member was lost and the base was hit extra hard by it. Both of their bodies were gathered and prepared for discharge back to their families so they can mourn their losses.

For their actions during the mission both Flores and Bapela were being promoted. Flores had racked up another five kills giving her a grand total of eleven which was easily the most out of all the soldiers on the roster. Flores had been promoted to Sergeant which allowed her to pick up the Field Medic training allowing her to use the Medikit three times in battle, as well as choosing her new nickname to be "Fast Lane". Bapela had racked up two more kills and was being promoted to Corporal for his outstanding tactics. He was picking up the Holo-Targeting training which would boost his teammates' accuracy on the same enemy he fired on by 10%. Unfortunately, his wounded lung would need twelve days to heal so it was back to the Infirmary for him.

Rascal brought the Floater down to the labs for interrogation, and placed him in the Alien Containment facility that had just become operational a few days prior. The Floater tried to make a break for it, but couldn't break down the door as it was subjected to the electroshock machines that were recently installed. For the next week the scientists' primary focus would be trying to find out everything this alien knew about the invasion.

The Commander had decided to hire another two soldiers to help fill the gaps that would be left by Collins and Kuumba's deaths. The new replacements would arrive in three days, and would be subjected to training immediately to get them up to XCOM standards.

* * *

== Three Days Later ==

The new recruits had just arrived and were quickly being whipped into fighting shape by the training officers, as well as Cohen and Zaytseva. Meanwhile, another three soldiers were currently away from the Barracks as they made their way to the Memorial Wall to remember some fallen comrades.

The three arrived and looked up to see the two new names posted on the wall, with Collins being above Zoe since she was a higher rank, and Kuumba under Wendy's name. The two new posts read:

 _Sq. Anne Collins 4 Kills 3 Missions Operation Bloody Apollo 4/11/2015_

 _Rk. Adegoke Kuumba 2 Kills 1 Mission Operation Bloody Apollo 4/11/2015_

"Damn I still can't believe they're gone." said Longbow as he hung his head at losing a fellow Sniper.

"Me either, they were both so eager to fight and now they're gone. Just like that." agreed Fast Lane.

"Yeah its partly my fault. My plan didn't exactly keep them alive." said Rascal as he hung his head, blaming himself for their deaths.

"Hey now that's no way to talk Rascal. No plan ever survives first contact with any opponent. You just have to adjust and go with the flow." said Longbow as he attempted to cheer him up.

"He's right, they both knew the risks going in. They both agreed to the plan and supported you knowing that this might occur. I'm sure that the both of them wouldn't want you to blame yourself. They would want you to move forward and use this as a learning point for future missions." agreed Fast Lane as she also attempted to cheer up Rascal. The new guy didn't need to be stressing out over this, after all he managed to capture a live alien.

"Thanks guys for having my back. I just hate losing people."

"We all do man, don't worry we're here for you." said Longbow as he patted him on the back.

The bonding moment was cut short when the alert went off signaling another UFO had been spotted over the USA.

"Well, let's hustle boys. Can't be the last ones there after all." said Fast Lane as the three began the trek back to the Barracks to find out who was going on the next mission.

* * *

 **AN: And we're going to stop it right there. Well what did you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Drop me a review and let me know. Also, make sure to favorite and follow as it really encourages me to right more if I see the support from you guys. Anyway I'll catch you all later, this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	9. Operation Soaring Dream

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? Sorry about the gap between chapters, but finals came first. Since they're over I have more free time to write so there should be an increase in chapter output over the next month and a half. Before proceeding to the story, I'd like to give a shout out to Forte De Tu for favoriting the story. Glad to see your support, and I hope you continue enjoying the story! Now enough dawdling back to the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Operation Soaring Dream**

After the alarm went off, the base deployed XCOM's fighter pilot call-sign "Joker". Joker was flying the Interceptor equipped with Avalanche missiles and proceeded to track the craft over the Pacific Northwest of the United States. From there the air battle was on, as both ships took a high amount of damage from the opponent's missiles. Knowing that one more hit would be the end of him, Joker fired his missile with determination as it hit the UFO dead center sending it careening towards the Earth below. The craft ended up going down on a flat plain of land surrounded by a forest of tall pine trees. Joker called in the crash site's coordinates and limped his way back to base, needless to say his jet would be out of commission for a long period of time.

Receiving Joker's radio transmission, Bradford and the Commander went over the available roster trying to decide whom to send on the mission. They were dealing with a Medium sized UFO which was the biggest one they encountered so far, but it had been heavily damaged in the dogfight and there was expected to be less than a full contingent of aliens present. Based off that information, the two decided to send three rookies on the mission with two Sergeants guiding them. The final decision was made as the five soldiers were informed, and gathered on the Skyranger in under twenty minutes.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

Caden "Longbow" O'Connell was displeased with the Commander's decision to bring rookies on this mission.

' _Didn't he see the last mission, Kuumba stood no chance against those Floaters_.'

The only thing Longbow could do was accept the Commander's orders and try to keep the rookies alive. While lost in his thoughts, Longbow went over the last adjustments for the S.C.O.P.E. before he placed the Barrett .50 cal down beside him as it was fully calibrated for the mission. The only solace he could take from the mission was that "Fast Lane" would be accompanying them on the mission.

 _'Then again, maybe Fast Lane can kill all the aliens and they won't die immediately.'_

Encarnacion "Fast Lane" Flores was more accepting of the Commander's decision then Longbow because she believed that everyone had to prove themselves eventually. Her new three use Medikit was fully stocked and ready to render aid to anyone should they become hurt during the mission.

 _'Hopefully we won't need it this time. These guys seem like a good bunch and shouldn't have too many problems. However I'm not sold on the American just yet.'_

The American she was referring to was one of the two new guys who had arrived as the UFO was spotted by the satellite to replace the recently deceased Collins and Kuumba. He stood at 6' 3'' and was muscled giving people the belief that he was a bodybuilder or weightlifter. In actuality he was just a shoe-salesman from the Bronx, NY who liked to stay in shape. His name is Flynn Olson and he was a 22 year old African-American with shaved black hair, a pencil thin mustache, and a medium-length goatee. Flynn volunteered for the XCOM project after hearing about their exploits in the war and decided he wanted to prove his worth as a soldier instead of as a shoe salesman. Olson was equipped with the standard rookie gear, and had managed to calibrate the other S.C.O.P.E. to his M4A1 assault rifle. Currently he was in a conversation with the other two Rookies who were sharing their reasons for fighting.

"I'm here to whip some alien ass!" shouted the younger of the two remaining males.

Chi Zhao was by far the youngest member of the XCOM project being 18 years old. He was the other rookie who came with Olson on the flight in and was eager to prove himself as well. He wanted to join the army, so he thought XCOM would be the perfect place for him since they were having the most success against the aliens. Zhao was from Beijing, China and stood at only 5' 11'' easily making him the shortest male soldier. He was also equipped with the standard rookie gear, but had one of the Nano-Fiber Vests on under his uniform as an extra precaution.

"Admirable, but I'm here for revenge. My buddy Kuumba died on the last mission and I wanted to get some payback." said the final male.

Owen Williams hailed from London in the United Kingdom and had an average 6' 2'' frame. He was only slightly muscled, but was not skinny by any means. Williams had black hair that was slicked back giving him the appearance of a greaser which was offset by his gentlemanly English accent. Williams was also equipped with the standard rookie gear, and he also had the Nano-Fiber Vest like Zhao since he knew Kuumba didn't wear one last time and look what happened to him.

The five then gathered around to plan their assault on the alien craft, before they reached the landing site in a few minutes. Based on the coordinates provided by Joker, the squad decided to land to the Southeast of the UFO and approach it from behind the cliff face separating the UFO from the other flatland next to it. Fast Lane and Olson would be on point, while Zhao and Williams would hang back. Longbow would move to some tree cover directly in front of the UFO to provide sniper Overwatch and utilize his Squadsight ability. With the plan agreed upon, the Skyranger landed and the soldiers disembarked to commence the operation.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

7:31 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time), Dusk, April 14, 2015, Operation Soaring Dream, Somewhere in the Oregon Wilderness, UFO Crash Site Mission.

"Central this is Big Sky. Strike One is just Southeast of the crash site, requesting permission to deploy." stated the Skyranger pilot.

"Roger that Strike One. Reading you 5 x 5. Watch your backs out there people. Commencing Operation Soaring Dream." replied Bradford giving them the green light for deployment.

"You heard him people let's get this over with." said Longbow as the four others began advancing parallel on the UFO's right flank. Longbow meanwhile moved to a tree that was directly in front of the UFO's south wall and set up his rifle on the provided log that was knocked over next to it.

"Longbow in position, acquiring targets."

* * *

== With the Four Others ==

"Roger that Longbow, we're advancing slowly." replied Fast Lane as she approached the cliff face that separated the two plains of land.

"One of you move up to that tree on the raised land and keep an eye out. The other two will continue moving up this plain to the rock cover ahead." commanded the Argentinean.

"Roger that Fast Lane." acknowledged Olson as he made the climb up to the tree. As he peeked around its left side he spotted three Sectoids that quickly ducked back down behind the cliff hiding them from his view.

"I've got contact dead ahead!" said Olson as he ducked behind the tree for cover. Williams went prone on the plain which wasn't the best place for cover but he didn't really care, and Zhao ran ahead and ducked behind a cliff face to Williams' northwest. They hunkered down and waited for the enemy to strike.

* * *

== Olson's POV ==

I could hear those creatures making some screeches and calls, before I heard a sound of some kind of energy flowing through the air. Curious I poked my head out, and saw one of those things with a Purple aura around it running at me, before it stopped behind a small group of rocks. Curious I peeked out more, and saw that another one of them was to that one's right and was aimed right at me. I tried to duck back, but all I felt was searing pain as plasma rounds ripped into my stomach.

"NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" I shouted as I raised my rifle up and fired into the creature's chest riddling him with rounds. As he fell to the ground lifeless, I hid back behind the tree and proceeded to cry.

* * *

== With the Others ==

Having seen Olson breaking down after being shot, and surprisingly killing one in a panic, the others knew they needed to act fast otherwise they could flank him and kill him.

"Longbow do you have a shot on that aura wielding freak?!" urgently asked Fast Lane as said freak missed his shot on Olson.

* * *

== Back with Longbow ==

"Target is in my sights! Firing!" replied Longbow as he steadied his aim and unleashed a .50 caliber bullet at the Sectoid's position. The bullet whizzed through the air, before it impacted the Sectoid's head dead center sending green blood and matter out the back of its head as the aura faded from its body.

"Target is down. Move up at your leisure."

* * *

== Back with the Others ==

"Thanks Longbow. Move up and watch for that last fucker!" exclaimed Fast Lane.

Zhao and Williams moved to Olson's flanks and kept an eye out for the other Sectoid, as Olson composed himself to continue on.

Fast Lane moved to the left side of the cliff wall and peeking around spotted two more living Sectoids, with a third unresponsive one who appeared to have died in the crash. The two Sectoids fell back, with one stopping behind the cliff wall and going on Overwatch while the other mind melded with the surviving Sectoid from the first group.

The mind-melded Sectoid rushed towards Olson's position to finish him, but was met with bursts of fire from Zhao and Williams. Zhao's burst hit the Sectoid's left leg causing it to trip, while Williams' shots ended up hitting it in the head killing it instantly.

"Take that you ugly son a bitch!: shouted Williams as he fist-pumped.

"Focus rookie this ain't over yet." scolded Longbow as he scanned for the other two Sectoids. He spotted the one in front of Fast Lane, but couldn't hit it as it quickly ducked behind the wall for cover.

"I have no shot on that one in front of you Fast Lane."

"It's fine just try to find the other one, I'll keep him busy." she replied as she entered Overwatch.

The soldiers heard the aliens mind-melding again as the now pinned Sectoid fired on Fast Lane's position, but missed.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Zhao moved up the plain, until he quickly ducked behind a pile of rocks as he saw the other unseen Sectoid that was unaware of his position due to the mind-melding. Taking his opportunity, Zhao lined up his rifle and fired hitting the Sectoid in its left side. The alien's look of shock was priceless as he fell sideways dead, before the energy around his head went back to the Sectoid in front of Fast Lane.

"One tango down!" exclaimed Zhao.

They then heard the telltale death wail of the Sectoid, as its eyes widened from the information overload which killed it immediately.

"Make that two. Excellent shot rookie." said Longbow

"Thank you sir."

"Alright everyone to the UFO opening. If we can get inside we'll have great cover to use against any flanking aliens coming to investigate this fight." ordered Fast Lane as the fivesome approached the Southeast opening of the UFO.

* * *

== UFO Opening ==

Since it was a medium-sized UFO, the opening lead into what appeared to be the room where the flight computer was stored. On the right was the entrance to the East power supply room, while on the left was the cockpit. Beyond the cockpit was the Southwest opening and the West power supply room.

Entering the UFO with caution, Fast Lane and Olson prepared to clear the cockpit. Williams entered the Computer room, Zhao took cover next to the East power supply room door, and Longbow was watching the UFO's flank from outside the craft ready to kill any flankers.

* * *

== With Fast Lane and Olson ==

"Alright Olson, on three breach and clear."

"Got it."

"1...2...3!"

Flores deactivated the hologram that was the cockpit door, and both rushed into the room checking it for any signs of the Outsider or other aliens. After spotting none, they moved to the other door and opened it, seeing nothing from the Southwest entrance either.

"The cockpit and southwest entrance are clear. Williams meet up with us at the west power supply door."

"Roger that Fast Lane."

* * *

== With Williams ==

Williams entered the Computer room, and noticed that one of the three flight computers for the craft was still intact. At that point Dr. Vahlen came over the radio to inform him of its significance.

"The alien flight computer could proved extremely valuable in our research. Please take great care in returning it to the base in one piece."

"Roger that Dr. Vahlen." replied Williams.

"The cockpit and southwest entrance are clear. Williams meet up with us at the west power supply door."

"Roger that Fast Lane." he replied as he moved up to meet the two.

As they approached the door, the three heard movement from inside the room.

"It must be the Outsider. Williams line up on the right side of the door, Olson take the left, I'll watch the opening to make sure there are no surprises for us. Zhao I want you to watch that room in front of you, protect our rear."

"You got it Sarge!" replied the youth as the three prepared to breach.

* * *

== With Zhao ==

After replying, the young rookie straightened up and trained his rifle on the door. No sooner had he done that, three Sectoids came bursting through intent on killing the unaware operatives.

"BEHIND YOU!" shouted Zhao as he unloaded into the nearest Sectoid killing him in a hail of bullets. The other two, surprised by the rookie's quick reaction fire ran towards the flight computer. Zhao opened up on the trailing Sectoid and managed to critically wound him, before running out of ammo.

"Gun's dry!" shouted Zhao as he attempted to reload.

* * *

== With the Others ==

Hearing the shouts, the three whirled around and saw Zhao take out one and wound another before the two scurried to cover. Seeing the opportunity, Williams and Olson rushed after them.

Turning back into the computer area, Olson opened fire on the wounded Sectoid before he could find cover. The alien never stood a chance as it quickly fell over dead.

Williams rushed after the other one that was cowering behind the flight computer, and raised his rifle point blank in its face.

"This is for Kuumba you ugly bastard!" he shouted as he unloaded his gun into its head until it finally ran out of ammunition. Feeling a little bit better, he reloaded and moved back over to Fast Lane's position, with Olson not far behind.

* * *

== Back with Fast Lane ==

After the two men reloaded their rifles, Fast Lane pulled out her Medikit as she saw that Olson's breathing was rather labored. The mist came out and landed on Olson's wound closing it up and leaving nothing more than a stinging pain that would get annoying after awhile.

"Olson you stay back so you don't reopen the wound and make it worse. Williams with me when we breach this room."

"On it Fast Lane."

Olson moved back to Zhao's position, while Flores deactivated the hologram door leading into the power supply room. Sure enough, the Outsider started materializing right in front of them as it tried to duck behind the power supply for cover. Having none of that, Fast Lane dashed forward and fired her rifle, causing the Outsider to destabilize as it suffered a critical wound.

The squad then went about securing the craft, as they declared the mission over as no more contact was made.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The squad returned to base in high spirits, as the mission was labeled a resounding success by the base higher-ups. The squad took no casualties and managed to break back a whole slew of alien equipment still intact from the craft. Included amongst that was both power supplies, and one of the flight computers.

All three rookies on the mission would be receiving promotions due to achieving their first kills, while Fast Lane and Longbow would remain Sergeants. Of the nine aliens encountered on the mission, Zhao killed three, Williams killed two, and Olson also killed two. Despite this happy fact Longbow was disappointed that none of the rookies would be entering Sniper training, which left his as the only active sniper since Goto was still in the Infirmary and Collins just died.

Olson decided to enter Assault training, and would be learning under Rascal and Cohen. Unfortunately due to his stomach wound he would be out of action for a week. However, he did earn the respect of the other soldiers since he managed to kill at least one of the aliens.

Zhao had chosen to take on Support training and Fast Lane was overjoyed to hear this. Zhao had managed to kill three of those aliens, which reminded her of her first couple of missions where she racked up six kills. She saw so much of herself in the young man, that she immediately assigned him as her unofficial "apprentice/protégé".

Williams decided to enter the Heavy Weapons training and was eager to get his training underway, but he had to wait for Bapela to get released from the Infirmary first. Thankfully it was only a short four day wait, so he wasn't complaining. He then headed down to the Memorial Wall to inform Kuumba that he avenged his death and would continue to do so in the future.

* * *

== The Next Day ==

Engineering came up with some good news, and informed the Commander that the new Satellite Uplink was finished construction and all they needed were the new satellites. Pleased with the news, the Commander asked them to start building a Power Generator next to the Alien Containment facility so they could build an Access Lift, and either a Workshop or Laboratory in the last first row slot. They began work immediately, as the Commander got back to the increasing stack of paperwork on his desk.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

The alert system had been unusually quiet, but the XCOM project wasn't complaining. They were hoping that this would be another long stretch of off days so they could recoup their forces for the next wave of assaults. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be the case as the system shouted off its warning to the Commander.

"COMMANDER TO MISSION CONTROL! COMMANDER TO MISSION CONTROL!"

The Commander hustled down to the designated area, where he saw Bradford, Dr. Vahlen, and Dr. Shen all huddled around the big screen. On the screen it was cycling through different news outlets around the world broadcasting different attacks on numerous cities that resembled a terrorist attack.

"It appears as though the aliens have changed their tactics." said Shen thoughtfully.

"What do you think it means?" asked Vahlen.

"It's a message." said Bradford as the two looked at him as he continued grimly.

"A message that says no one can stop them."

"Well then they haven't met me now have they Bradford?" said the Commander with mirth in his voice as he smugly looked at the attacks already having his next move planned out.

"What's the call sir?" asked Bradford as the doctors decided to stay silent and watch how this played out.

"What's the city being hit hardest?"

"It's Cologne, Germany sir." replied an analyst as he highlighted the city on the screen for those present. It was true Cologne was being hit three times harder than the other cities.

"We'll assemble a team and stop the onslaught there, that should prove to the aliens that we mean business and will stop them from taking over this planet! Assemble our best team available Bradford, I want them in the air in under ten minutes!"

"Understood sir! Get me the roster list now!" shouted Bradford at the nearest analyst who handed it to him. He began going over the list as the Commander listened intently to the names of who would go on the mission. This one was going to be bad, and they needed the best in order to turn the tide.

* * *

 **AN: And cut! That's a wrap on this chapter. Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review and or PM and let me know so I can improve my writing. Also, don't forget to follow and favorite if it peeks your interest to do so. Anyway until next time this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	10. Operation Frozen Druid

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? Hope you all enjoyed your holidays with your families. I most certainly did since I got this new computer and Cards Against Humanity which led to several hilarious hours of messed up situations. Anyway it's been 4 days and I decided that I'd waited long enough to put out the next chapter of this fic. So without further ado let's proceed into the terror mission.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Operation Frozen Druid**

== On the Skyranger ==

The five soldiers selected for this high profile mission were a majority of the best that XCOM had available at the time. Seated in the Skyranger were three Sergeants and two Corporals, and all four of the soldier classes were represented on the mission by one soldier, with the exception of the Assault class as it had two soldiers present.

The squad leader for the mission based upon experience was Caden "Longbow" O'Connell the squad's sharpshooter. Being the only experienced active Sniper, the Irishman knew he was risking a lot by going on the mission, but knew that it was all hands on deck for this one and readily volunteered for the mission.

The second and third in commands were the other two Sergeants Kim "Cargo" Green, the squad's medic, and Chidi "Rascal" Okeke one of the Assault soldiers. Cargo knew that "Fast Lane" Flores was still exhausted from the UFO mission so she volunteered to give her more time to recover and also train Zhao on being a better Support soldier. Rascal volunteered for the mission as well to continue to prove his worth to the squad since he still hasn't killed an alien officially, even though he managed to capture the Floater for interrogation.

The last two members of the squad were the lovebirds Cpl. Tatyana Zaytseva and Cpl. Daniel Cohen. Both of them were the freshest soldiers left in the Barracks so it only made logical sense for them to be on the mission. Also, neither wanted to come without the other, so the choice was really easy to make.

All five soldiers were currently going over their equipment to make sure it was fully functioning and ready for action as soon as they hit the ground. O'Connell had just finished attaching his S.C.O.P.E. to enhance his Barrett .50 caliber's range and was ready to rock. Cohen and Rascal had both exchanged their Remington 870 shotguns for the M4A1 rifles to increase their range and ammo capacity. Rascal had decided to expand his range further by also attaching an S.C.O.P.E., while Cohen had opted for the extra armor provided by the Nano-Fiber Vest. Zaytseva had followed her boyfriend's thinking and also snagged a vest for herself, while also making sure that her M249 SAW was fully operational. Cargo was also equipped with a M4A1 assault rifle, and being the squad's medic she was able to grab a Medikit with enough supplies for three uses before it would become useless to her.

There was no joyous talking or rough housing as they were aware of what they were walking into, and were intently focused on making the aliens pay for attacking innocent civilians. The map display of the area showed a police station that was surrounded by chaos as corpses and devices littered the area. The squad noticed that the station itself was two buildings connected together with the bigger of the two having two floors. The bigger one's main floor contained a reception area, which had doors leading out to the rear of the building, as well as the left side alleyway. The second floor contained numerous desks and file cabinets which could provide good cover for soldiers to shoot out the destroyed walls located above the rear parking lot. The other building was believed to be a file and evidence room which had numerous shelving units that lead to a staircase which connected to the second floor of the other building. The rear of this building had two doorways which lead out to a huge truck that lead into the parking lot.

The squad decided that a frontal assault on the main building would be catastrophic and bloody, so they decided to enter the file room from the south, while two others would flank down the right alleyway and surprise any aliens hiding inside since there were no windows on the right wall leaving them completely hidden. After several more minutes of fine-tuning, the Skyranger began its descent and when it landed, the five rushed off to combat the alien threat.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

"Central this is Big Sky. Strike One has reached the terror site, requesting authorization to deploy." said the pilot of the Skyranger.

"Roger that Big Sky. Strike One remember your highest priority is to protect those civilians, and also check your targets don't need any friendly fire. Operation Frozen Druid is a go!" replied Bradford as the squad began their deployment.

Rascal, Cargo, and Cohen all decided to breach the file room since they were the ones equipped with the close range assault rifles, while Longbow and Zaytseva would proceed down the back alley with their more suited for long range weapons.

* * *

== With the Close Quarters Team ==

The three soldiers approached the door and set up a classic door breech with Rascal and Cargo on the left and right sides of the door respectively, and Cohen standing in the middle of the walkway preventing anything from coming out if it was a ground based alien. Cargo opened the door, and two Floaters were immediately spotted behind it. Startled by the intrusion, one froze on the spot as Cargo lifted up her rifle and fired into its body, killing it instantly with multiple wounds to its mechanical/organic body. The other Floater was smarter and flew over Cohen into the air behind him, but was stopped by Rascal who unloaded some rounds into its back, stunning him. Capitalizing on the distraction, Cohen raised his rifle and fired causing the alien's jetpack to explode and kill him upon impact with the ground. Satisfied with their work, the three entered the building.

* * *

== With the Long Range Team ==

Longbow and Zaytseva entered the alleyway and spotted two civilians cowering behind some cars as they were peeking over the cars searching for something.

"Are you two okay?" asked the Russian as she approached the two and set her machine gun down so they weren't alarmed. O'Connell remained on a vigilant Overwatch to make sure that nothing came out to surprise them during the conversation.

"We're fine, but some of our friends are still inside the building!" exclaimed the first as he was severely frightened at whatever he'd seen during the attack. The other had visibly relaxed at the soldiers' appearances and was able to be more detailed for them.

"Our friends are on the second floor, we split up initially to escape those flying things, and they followed them instead of us. Also, we saw some purple things walking around like Spiders and biting people left and right. I'd be careful if I were you guys."

"Thanks for the information. There's an aircraft directly behind us in the back corner of the lot. Talk to the pilot and he'll let you guys into the cargo hold until the mission is over."

"Thanks! Come on dude." replied the second male as he picked up his buddy and the two ran for the Skyranger as the two proceeded down the alley to the building's corner. Peeking out, there was no activity in the immediate area, so Longbow moved over to the truck's rear to give more cover over the open area leading to the parking lot. Zaytseva peeked inside the building and saw the other three inside lined up against a shelving unit next to the stairs. They were preparing to run up them, when a whirring sound was heard. Looking up Zaytseva saw that two Floaters were going to land right behind them and shouted to get their attention.

"Look out!"

* * *

== With the Squad as a Whole ==

Hearing the shout, Cargo turned around and fired into the lead Floater, causing his shot to go wild and miss all three humans. Seeing their hopes dashed, the two attempted to escape before anymore shots came their way. The unwounded one managed to get away unscathed, but Rascal would not let the other one go as he blasted the creature with rifle rounds sending it careening to the ground in flames.

Rascal was excited to have his first confirmed kill, but the squad knew that their work was not yet done, as the other Floater had disappeared. Going on Overwatch, the squad patiently waited for him to make his appearance again.

They didn't have to wait long as the Floater rushed out of an opening in the destroyed second floor's wall as it tried escaping into the parking lot. Longbow already had the creature in his sights, as he unloaded a round from his rifle that went cleanly through its head, causing him to fall lifelessly to the ground in one piece.

The squad regrouped inside the file room and was getting ready to discuss their next few moves, before they heard two screams signaling the deaths of two civilians from outside the building. Wasting little time, the squad split up to cover the most distance.

* * *

== With Cargo ==

Cargo decided to secure the second floor alone, as she raced up the steps leading to it from the file room. Once reaching the landing, she saw two civilians cowering behind the desks as she moved over to them.

"You guys need to get out of here!"

"No need to tell me twice girl." said the first female civilian as she prepared to bolt, before her friend pulled her back down.

"We don't even know where to yet so just hold up." chastised the woman before turning to Cargo.

"Have you seen our two friends? We got separated when those flying things came after us; I think they made it outside to the back alley."

"As a matter of fact one of my squadmates found them earlier. They should be waiting inside the aircraft we arrived in. It's located out front in the back left corner of the parking lot. Just tell the pilot to open up and you guys can hide inside."

"Thanks! Come on!" she said as she picked up her friend and headed back down the stairs to reach the ship.

* * *

== With Rascal and Cohen ==

Rascal and Cohen had entered the connecting area between the main lobby and the file room. They both peeked out into the lobby and found it clear of aliens, before spotting two civilians hiding behind the support pillars out front of the building. Being the closer of the two Rascal ran over to them, as Cohen kept watch on the two doors leading into the lobby from the parking lot and side alley.

"You two okay?"

"No, we just saw two of those creatures eat some people!"

"What do you mean eat some people?"

"They just bit into their necks and ate them, before dropping them to tear them apart!"

"Do you know what these creatures looked like?"

"They were purple, and looked to have crystalline skin and moved around very quickly on four legs; almost like a spider with how fast it moved." chimed in the second, calmer civilian.

' _Troublesome. That sounds just like the creatures that were described to Tatyana by the civilians she encountered earlier.'_

Rascal's monologue was cut short by more screams coming from the left side alley.

"Shit! They're back!" exclaimed the first civilian as she became more panicked.

"Both of you get to the ship it's out there across the yard. Don't worry; the pilot will let you in. Go now!" he ordered as the sounds of multiple legs running were heard. The two civilians took off as the creatures busted down the rear door.

* * *

== 3rd Person View of the Battlefield ==

Seeing what was happening, Cargo and Longbow unloaded on the creatures and managed to hit the lead one who still stood strong after the bullet barrage. Seeing the soldiers aiming at them, the second purple creature ducked back behind the building as the reaction fire from Cohen, Rascal, and Zaytseva all missed his retreating form. The wounded creature stumbled back out into the parking lot, as Cargo raised her rifle and fired from the second floor hitting it in the back, causing it to collapse in on itself as it folded to the floor with an ear-splitting scream.

* * *

== With Tatyana and Longbow ==

The two were still positioned out by the delivery truck after dispatching the first purple creature, wondering where the second one would pop up. Longbow was deep in thought about these creatures as he noticed that it took a considerable amount of firepower to take just one down.

' _These creatures are definitely more mobile than the past ones we've dealt with, plus it takes a great amount to take them down due to their thick skin. We need to keep these things at a distance if we want to take them out.'_

His thoughts were disrupted as he heard firing coming from the building. Knowing what it meant, the two operatives ran for the open door, as Longbow drew his pistol.

* * *

== Back with Cohen, Cargo, and Rascal==

The three were watching the side alley door, as they were betting on the creature coming from there. Cargo had just begun to reload her weapon, when the creature made his appearance known. Cohen fired from behind the lobby desk as he hit the alien dead center, but did little damage due to the skin. Rascal on the other hand missed from his position behind the wall of the building near the window looking into the lobby. The creature looked at the two, before going at Rascal since he was the closer of the two.

The creature charged at him recklessly as it threw caution to the wind. Its one goal was to try and eat said human before it escaped him, but it wasn't meant to be. Rascal raised his rifle and fired into the creature's legs causing it to stumble forward and smack face first into the ground. Screaming at the loss of its momentum, the creature struggled to stand again. Just as it was about to succeed, three pistol shots entered it skull from behind sending it to the ground for the final time as it gave off its death scream.

The three looked to see Longbow standing in the rear doorway with his smoking Five Seven semi-automatic pistol with a triumphant smirk in his face. Not hearing anymore alien movement or screams in the area, the squad proceeded to secure the rest of the area and gather up the remaining civilians for transport back to XCOM headquarters.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The commander was going over the final numbers with Bradford, Dr. Shen, and Dr. Vahlen and they were ecstatic with the findings. Of the 18 civilians in the area XCOM had managed to save 14 of them, giving them a 78% success rate. This was far above initial projected totals since they had no idea how many aliens would be present. Also, not only had panic decreased in Germany, but true to the Commander's prediction the other attacks ceased in Europe and panic decreased there as well.

"Looks like our troops are really taking care of business down there! And without as much as a scratch, despite the horrendous conditions down there! Excellent work all of you!" commended Shen as he congratulated all of the soldiers upon their return to base.

"I agree it was an exemplarily performance; However I'm still perplexed as to why they would target innocent civilians? They must be here for more than just abductions." contributed Vahlen as she contemplated the aliens' intentions for Earth; it seems everything they did had some ulterior motive that challenged her previous attempts at guessing their purpose for invading Earth.

Moving on to the soldiers, everyone in the squad got promoted for doing such an excellent job of returning those civilians to safety. Longbow, Cargo, and Rascal all got promoted to Lieutenant which allowed them to add another skill to their repertoire for combating the aliens. Longbow would now be bringing a Battle Scanner to help find groups of enemies that hadn't made themselves known to the squad during a firefight to prevent flanking maneuvers. Cargo would be able to now Revive a critically wounded soldier so they could continue to fight even with a near fatal wound. Rascal picked up a new ability, Flush, which allowed him to easily hit a target with a shot to force them out of good cover for the squad to shoot at. This may come in handy against smarter enemies down the road.

Cohen and Zaytseva were both promoted to Sergeant and were able to pick out their new nicknames and abilities. Cohen went with the new nickname "Cobra" and picked up Lightning Reflexes which would allow him to dodge Overwatch fire completely on the first shot and with a 70 % chance to succeed on the second chance. This would allow him to move up and flank enemies without worrying about Overwatch fire. Zaytseva chose the nickname "Prototype" and ended up going with the Suppression ability. This will allow her to pin down a target and severely reduce their aim, and restrict their movements. It also would provide her a free Overwatch shot if the target tried to run while being suppressed. This would come in handy against pesky enemies who want to run up and charge the squad.

Elsewhere in the base, Dr. Vahlen and her team finished the Interrogation on the Floater captured by Rascal during Operation Bloody Apollo. They discovered before the alien died, that the Outsider was the next link in the Chain of Command to the Sectoid Commander that was encountered by the German Army at the beginning of the invasion. She recommended that the soldiers attempt to capture this alien so it can be interrogated for information as well. With that completed, her team decided to finish the research on Experimental Warfare that was abandoned briefly to conduct the interrogation.

Nothing new happened on the Engineering front, as the base decided to try and relax before the next attack on Earth.

* * *

== One Day Later ==

Unfortunately the base wouldn't be able to rest long as there were numerous abductions being recorded in London, UK, Bangalore, India, and Acapulco, Mexico. Seeing that the panic level was higher in Mexico and India, London was ruled out as the mission site. Checking on the reward offerings, the Commander noticed that Mexico was offering Scientists to join XCOM's ranks which were sorely needed by Dr. Vahlen's overworked staff. His mind made up, Mexico would be the next drop site. However, he then noticed that the difficulty of the mission was going to be Very Difficult indicating a high amount of enemies participating in the abductions. Keeping this in mind, he went to select the five troops that would be present on the mission.

* * *

 **AN: And we'll stop the chapter right there. Well I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but that's really how short the mission was as the police station is one of my personal favorites so I knew all the ways to make it as easy as possible. Leave a review to tell me if you liked or hated it! And also please remember to follow and favorite if you like what you're reading! I can't express to you guys how motivated it makes me want to write these chapters if I see people reading them and following them, so please do! Anyway enough blubbering, I'll catch you all next time. Until then, this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	11. Operation Forgotten Thunder

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? Hope you guys are all excited for the New Year, cause I know that I am! And to celebrate this I decided to post another chapter for this story, since I felt that I shortchanged you guys with the short terror mission chapter. Anyway let's jump right in then!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Operation Forgotten Thunder**

== On the Skyranger ==

The five selected members for the mission were seated securely in the Skyranger as they headed to Mexico to take care of the abductions taking place there. The Commander decided to go heavy on the leadership for this mission, since it was classified as a Very Difficult mission for a reason. Because of that, the first three members of the squad were no surprise as it was Lt. Kim "Cargo" Green the American Support soldier who was stocked up on Medikit supplies to cover injuries, Sgt. Tatyana "Prototype" Zaytseva the Russian Heavy who had her SAW locked and loaded and had her Nano-Fiber Vest secured underneath her armor, and Sgt. Daniel "Cobra" Cohen the Israeli Assault soldier who had switched back to his Remington 870 MCS for this mission, and also snagged a vest for himself since he'd be getting up close and personal with the aliens.

The other two members of the squad came as a surprise to the three veterans, but they trusted the Commander's judgment and went with it. The first choice was Sq. Cheng Chen the Chinese Support soldier who hadn't seen any action since Operation Hot Whisper when he saved Flores from being killed when her cover was destroyed. He carried his usual M4A1 assault rifle, as well as an extra Medikit in case Cargo ran out of supplies, though his had only enough for one usage. The final squad member was the sole remaining XCOM rookie that was recruited after Collins and Kuumba's deaths in Operation Bloody Apollo.

Said rookie was named Moon Kim from Seoul, South Korea. Kim was 23 years old and stood at a miniscule 5' 7'' but made up for it with a decent amount of muscle due to his career in the South Korean military. His black hair was stylized into a military buzz cut and he was always professional and cold to those around him since he didn't know when or if they would be killed. Kim served in the Republic of Korea's Marine Corps, ROK Marines, in the 2nd Marine Regiment known as the Yellow-Dragon regiment. On the back of his uniform he had the ROK Marines' flag inscribed underneath his country's flag. Kim also carried the standard rookie gear, but added an S.C.O.P.E to improve his accuracy since there wasn't a sniper on the mission with Longbow getting a much needed day off.

The squad now pulled up a hologram of the area of landing and noticed that it was a bar and grill restaurant that had cars parked out in front of it, and along its left side. Following the left side led to a delivery truck which allowed a view of the restaurant's back alley that had numerous ladders leading to roof access. The squad decided that going left behind the car cover leading into the alley would be the best course of action as it would have the best cover, and would allow for them to scale the roof and surprise any enemies out in front of the restaurant.

"Touching Down Strike One." was the warning from the pilot, as they approached the Earth and landed just to the Southwest of the restaurant near the left side. The ramp descended as the squad disembarked to counteract another alien attack on the inhabitants of Earth.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

== XCOM Turn #1/ Alien Turn #1 ==

Cargo and Cobra took point as the squad slowly progressed to the car cover provided by a brown SUV parked facing towards the front of the Skyranger ramp, and an orange SUV that was parked with its front facing the restaurant. Peeking around the corner of the orange SUV, Cargo spots three Sectoids that promptly scurry behind the cover of the large delivery truck near the alley. Deciding to hang back and set up an Overwatch trap, the squad does so, but none of the Sectoids advance far enough to trigger it and are nowhere in sight.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #2 ==

Cargo realized that the only way to move safely would be to trigger the Overwatch using Cobra's reflexes. As long as there was only one Overwatch he'd be fine, but if it was two or more he was at risk of being hurt badly. Knowing it was the only way, Cobra accepted the order before kissing Prototype to calm her worries before charging ahead recklessly to an alien device that was equidistant from the SUV and the delivery truck.

== Cohen's POV ==

As I stepped out into the open I saw that one Sectoid was entrenched behind the delivery truck's rear that was closer to the restaurant and he aimed at me to fire. But there was another one that was behind the device I was charging for. Hoping for the best I ran as hard as I could as the shots whizzed harmlessly by me and I made it to the device unscathed. Deciding to return the favor I aimed my shotgun at the closest one and blew him away with buckshot. Before I could celebrate I looked into the alley and spotted three more Sectoids scurrying back into there for cover.

' _That's fan-fucking-tastic, another goddamn pod of Sectoids!'_

Ending my internal rant, I radioed their location to my squadmates as I heard an explosion come from the brown SUV that had been hit by the shots that missed me. Thankfully the squad had moved away so we were all still okay for now. Now we just had to wait for their counterattack.

* * *

== Battlefield POV == == Alien Turn #2 ==

The squad had fallen back and shifted left as the cover exploded and set and Overwatch trap, hoping to kill at least one of the aliens. One Sectoid from the alley mind-melded with one of his buddies and said Sectoid scaled the roof triggering the Overwatch of the soldiers. All of them missed as the guy managed to scurry along the edge of the roof before peeking out and hitting Cargo in the side with some plasma rounds. Another Sectoid ran up to Cobra's position, but didn't do anything except stare downfield as if Cobra wasn't there.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #3 ==

Trying to provide Cobra some support, Prototype ran forward to the now destroyed SUV, but is shot by the Sectoid next to Cobra as he was on Overwatch wounding her in the leg. Despite this, she is able to steady her SAW on the smoking SUV's frame and suppress the Sectoid on the roof.

With this distraction, Cobra moves to the left of the device, closer to the truck and blows away the creature that wounded his girlfriend as he riddled it with some more buckshot. With those two out of the picture for the time being, Kim and Chen fall back and Overwatch to cover Cobra, while Cargo falls back behind them and heals her wound with some of the Medikit's restorative mist.

* * *

==Alien Turn #3 ==

The suppressed Sectoid's aim is too badly hindered and ends up missing Prototype by a wide margin. The two Sectoids in the alley link together psychically and Overwatch to try and prevent the eventual assault on their position. Having none of that Cobra charges for the truck and dodges their hasty Overwatch once again thanks to his reflexes.

* * *

==XCOM Turn #4 ==

Kim and Chen move forward and take shots at the roof using Sectoid, but miss horrendously due to the recoil of their rifles. During this, Prototype and Cargo fall back towards the beginning of the map so that way Cargo can heal Prototype's wounds.

* * *

== Alien Turn #4 ==

The roof using Sectoid charges to its very edge and shoots Cargo in the back as Prototype pulls her into cover and helps her heal the wound that has reopened on her side.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #5 ==

Needing to turn the tide, Cobra peeks around the truck and discovers the Sectoid from the first group that had gone missing cowering there in fear. The Sectoid looked up only to be met with some burning buckshot as it blew away the upper part of its head killing it instantly.

Meanwhile, Chen misses his shot on the rooftop Sectoid again, but is picked up by Kim as the rookie's aim holds true and the Sectoid is easily dispatched. This allows Cargo and Prototype to move back up behind the destroyed SUV.

* * *

== Alien Turn #5 ==

The two Sectoids are enraged by their comrade's death and fire at Cobra who is hit in the chest, but his vest is able to prevent the projectiles from penetrating his skin. The other Sectoid decides to charge the roof and wounds Prototype again as it also reopens her wounds that were already stitched up.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #6 ==

Chen then charges towards the alien device and dispatches the Sectoid on the roof as it peeks over the roof edge to assess the situation. Cargo moves up next to Chen and hunkers down to avoid more bullets, as Kim and Prototype Overwatch with Cohen reloading.

* * *

== Alien Turn #6 ==

The lone remaining Sectoid misses his shots on Cargo thanks to her heavy cover, and is once again stuck by himself in the alley.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #7 ==

Unimpeded due to the Sectoid firing, Chen reaches the truck cover thanks to his Sprinter ability, and dispatches the Sectoid from this life with his M4A1. The rest of the squad decides to reload as they hear Floaters from either inside or near the restaurant's entrances.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #8 ==

Taking the provided lack of sight on the Floaters, Cobra leads them on to the roof as the regroup near an air conditioning unit to discuss their next moves. Knowing there is a back door in the alley, Cargo and Cobra head there while Kim, Chen, and Prototype advance to the roof edge and wait for the others' signal to fire.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #9 ==

Reaching the door, Cobra opens it and spots two Floaters out in front of the restaurant that don't decide to fly off, but just sit there. Using their inactivity to their advantage he and Cargo fall back and set up an Overwatch trap as they tell the others to do the same.

* * *

== Alien Turn #9 ==

One Floater decides to try and access the roof, but it wounded by Chen's Overwatch, before being finished off by Kim. This site causes the other Floater to freeze as it goes on Overwatch to prevent them from charging him.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #10

Cargo and Cobra move back up to the door, and spot the Floater still there so Cargo takes aim and misses wildly, as Cobra aims his shotgun and fires across the length of the restaurant and the spread is still small enough to completely hit the Floater ending its existence on the Earth. With those two dealt with, the others on the roof Overwatch waiting for any more aliens as they hear noises coming from the restaurant's far side.

* * *

== Alien Turn #10 ==

Two more Floaters come charging out in front of the restaurant, as Prototype lights one up with her SAW sending him plummeting to the Earth in a ball of flames. Terrified the other one stays behind the building and debates its next move.

* * *

== XCOM Turn #11 ==

Receiving the information from their squadmates, Cargo charges to the building's edge and peeks out seeing the Floater exactly where he was said to be. Unaware of her being behind him, she raised her rifle and pumped him full of hot lead ending the mission as a resounding success for the XCOM faithful.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

Upon the return to base, the soldiers were greeted with congratulations as they completed the mission rather thoroughly. On the bad side, Cargo and Prototype would have to spend eight days in the Infirmary to have their wounds completely heal. But on the plus side the other three came out unscathed and two of them were promoted. Cobra was promoted to Lieutenant thanks to his four kills, and decided upon the Rapid Fire perk to allow him to fire two rapid shots against the same target; Kim was also promoted as he went to Squaddie and chose the role of Support to help keep his comrades alive.

Following that, China and India both went to the maximum panic level thanks to the Commander ignoring India's request for support. Next, the Power Generator was finally constructed allowing for the Engineers to begin constructing the Laboratory in the final open slot of the first level, as well as constructing the access lift down to the second level.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

Experimental Warfare was finished by the research staff, so the Commander instructed them to commence the autopsy of the Sectoid to learn more about it since they had more staff members on call now.

Later that day, two of the three Satellites that were being constructed finished down in Engineering, and the Commander had to decide where the two would go. He went back through his requests, and found that both Germany and Russia were requesting one and decided to honor their requests by giving them to them. This further infuriated the Chinese and Indian governments. In order to cover the new Satellites, two more Interceptors were ordered for Europe as well as the construction of 6 Phoenix Cannons to improve the ships firepower.

* * *

== Four Days Later ==

With their Research complete, the scientists discovered the psychic link between the creatures and how they could use this benefit to increase the aim for Interceptors when they were pursuing enemy ships. Although this process of replicating the Aim function would cost three of the Sectoid bodies being kept in storage. With nothing else to report, the scientists started on the research of Beam Weapons.

The Engineering department began working on excavating the second level as the access left had just finished construction that morning. This process would take another five days.

* * *

== Five Days Later ==

The fifth Satellite is finished by the Engineers, and as a peace offering the Commander presented it to China to reduce their panic level and apologize for ignoring their requests earlier.

Later in the day, the Excavations are completed along with the Laboratory which increased the Scientists productivity tenfold. With nothing else on the docket, the month ended as the Council sent over the Monthly Summary for XCOM.

Sadly, India decided to pull out of the XCOM project as it didn't feel enough support from the group and decided to go it alone against the aliens. This lone event brought the grade for the entire month down to a B, but it was still passable enough for the Council as they commended the project on a job well done. On the transmission, the Commander noticed the statistics for this month's activity.

Rewards: + 765 credits, +4 Scientists, +4 Engineers

2 Abductions Stopped

1 Terror Mission Stopped

1 UFO Shot Down and Raided

1 UFO Raided

4 Research Projects Completed

3 Satellites Launched

With nothing else to report, the Council left wishing the Commander good luck in the month to come. As the transmission ended and the country list came back on line, the Commander made note of the updated panic levels:

1: USA, Mexico, Russia, Germany, South Africa, and Nigeria

2: Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, and Egypt

3: Brazil, UK, China

4: Japan

Withdrawn: India

The Commander was walking down to the Memorial wall, as he went over the roster numbers in his head which amounted to 15 Soldiers, 16 Engineers, and 14 Scientists. Reaching his destination, the Commander gazed solemnly over the list which now sported three new names that were the direct result of his decisions made during the missions they took.

Sq. Anne Collins

Rk. Adegoke Kuumba

Rk. Wendy Gardner

' _Another three of my soldiers are gone thanks to my carelessness. I was lucky not to lose anyone during that mission to Mexico not too long ago. This is only going to get harder, I need to step up or else this is going to go down the tubes in front of my eyes.'_

With a new determined look in his eyes, the Commander started back to his office as he waited for what the aliens would throw at him in May.

* * *

 **AN: And that's the end of the second month of the game. Hope you guys are happy with how the story is progressing and continue to support it moving forward. With the Terror Mission combined with this one we have reached the normal length of one chapter. I tried a new style with this Chapter, so let me know what you guys think about it in a review. Anyway, the next chapter will be the updated active roster, and then the following chapter will be the first May mission. So stay tuned to find out what happens next. I'd like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and I'll see you all in 2016! Until next time, this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	12. XCOM Active Roster End of April

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! What's up everyone? Sorry about the long gap between chapters, but I decided to take a break from this story and focus on my Charlie Brown story which is coming along quite nicely. Anyway, the newest mission chapter will be up later today and will detail the start of May for the brave XCOM members. Here's the active roster for the squad going into the month. Again this is not an actual chapter, so if you want you can skip this one but if you have trouble figuring out whom I'm talking about then this will help clear that up. –PRAK #TheNastyOne**

* * *

 **XCOM Active Roster**

Soldier Name Gender Age Country of Origin Number of Missions Number of Kills Class Nickname Status Rank

* * *

Tatyana Zaytseva Female 23 Russia 5 6 Heavy Prototype Active Sergeant

* * *

Caden O'Connell Male 25 Ireland 6 9 Sniper Longbow Active Lieutenant

* * *

Encarnacion Flores Female 21 Greece 5 12 Support Fast Lane Active Sergeant

* * *

Daniel Cohen Male 20 Israel 5 9 Assault Cobra Active Lieutenant

* * *

Ekwuenme Bapela Male 26 South Africa 3 5 Heavy N/A Active Corporal

* * *

Cheng Chen Male 28 China 2 3 Support N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Alex Smith Male 19 USA 1 2 Assault N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Juliette Durand Female 19 France 1 2 Support N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Katsume Goto Male 29 Japan 1 1 Sniper N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Kim Green Female 26 USA 3 6 Support Cargo Active Lieutenant

* * *

Chidi Okeke Male 24 South Africa 2 1 Assault Rascal Active Lieutenant

* * *

Chi Zhao Male 18 China 1 2 Support N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Owen Williams Male 23 United Kingdom 1 2 Heavy N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Flynn Olson Male 22 USA 1 3 Assault N/A Active Squaddie

* * *

Moon Kim Male 23 South Korea 1 2 Support N/A Active Squaddie


	13. Operation Frozen Shield

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? I hope you guys are ready for the next chapter in "XCOM: The 69** **th** **Attempt at Human Victory". So instead of drawing it out, let's get right into it as the Month of May begins for the XCOM faithful.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Operation Frozen Shield**

With the start of a new month upon the XCOM project, they started kicking everything into high gear since it was apparent that it would only get tougher moving forward. The Commander first ordered the Engineering department to continue excavating the second underground level to make room for future facilities that the project would need. Following that, the Commander decided to make his way to the Officer Training School and purchased the Rapid Recovery ability for the Infirmary. This ensures that all wounds suffered during the course of the campaign would only require half of the original healing time due to advanced medical equipment being brought in to replace the older versions. Following this, the Commander went back to his office and awaited progress.

* * *

== Five Days Later ==

The Research on Beam Weapons had completed and the Commander assigned the scientists the task of focusing on Precision Lasers which would require another ten days of research. With this completed, the Commander ordered the Engineering department to produce four prototype Five Seven laser pistols, and 3 M4A1 laser rifles to be ready for the soldiers to take into combat as soon as possible. He also had the Engineers finish excavating the second level completely, and build a Power Generator on the second level underneath the one on the top level to not only provide more power to the base, but to also acquire an extra two power for the adjacency bonus. On top of that the Commander ordered three more satellites to be produced for any panics that would be encountered during the month, with the plans to build another uplink when the funds became available.

* * *

== One Day Later ==

The alarm sounded signifying a UFO had made its presence known in the German airspace early in the morning. With no time to lose, Interceptor Pilot #5 codename Spitter was dispatched to take the aircraft down with little prejudice. After two solid hits from the Phoenix Cannon, the scout UFO plummeted to the Earth in Germany's Black Forest and unsurprisingly remained intact. With the idea to capture the Outsider known to be on the aircraft, a team was formed and dispatched to storm the crash site within a few hours.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

The five man squad was sitting in the aircraft as it approached the German crash site admiring the new laser weapons the engineers had made in the last few days. Having had time to fire those in the barracks' firing range had left them waiting to see what they could do against actual alien targets instead of unmoving wooden targets.

The squad leader for this particular mission was none other than Lt. Chidi "Rascal" Okeke the only soldier that has captured an alien during the campaign. Knowing this fact, the Commander knew he was the obvious choice to capture the Outsider. With him going to be up close and personal with the aliens, Rascal outfitted himself with his trusty Remington 870 shotgun, a new laser pistol, and the Arc Thrower to capture the Outsider before it vanishes.

The second in command for the mission was Sgt. Encarnacion "Fast Lane" Flores the current alien kill leader with 12 confirmed kills. Fast Lane had been one of the first to volunteer for the advanced laser weaponry and had grabbed one of the rifles and pistols when gearing up, along with a Medikit with enough equipment for three uses.

The third man up on the mission was Cpl. Ekwuenme Bapela. Bapela had finally gotten out of the Infirmary from his last wound, and was hoping that he wouldn't be shot this time out; he had seen enough of the Infirmary to last a lifetime. Still knowing his luck, Bapela had grabbed one of the Nano Fiber vests to go under his armor as well as his RPG-7 rocket launcher and M249 SAW light machine gun.

The fourth and fifth members of the squad were finally going on their second missions with the XCOM project, despite being on the roster since the beginning of the alien invasion. Sq. Katsume Goto had finally gotten out of the Infirmary from his wounds in Operation Swift Line and finished his Sniper training under "Longbow". With this the old man was ready to go back into action as he grabbed his Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle complete with an S.C.O.P.E. attachment, and one of the Laser Pistols supplied by the engineers. The final member of the squad was Sq. Juliette Durand; the Frenchwoman had patiently waited for her time to go back into the field as she watched everyone else get a second mission except her, Sq. Alex Smith, and the rookies from Operations Soaring Dream and Forgotten Thunder. With her number finally being picked, she was eager to get back into the fight as she also picked out a new Laser Rifle, Laser Pistol, and a Medikit to back up Fast Lane's should she run out of medical supplies.

The squad was then brought to the attention of the map layout becoming visible on the hologram in front of them as it showed the UFO coming down behind a rocky hill to its front, as well as a simultaneous one on its right. The Skyranger would be landing behind the hill on the UFO's right and decided that the best course of action would be to use the hill to shade their movements as they advanced around it to the rear of the hill directly in front of the UFO. Once there they would scale the hill and take up positions as Rascal and Durand would charge the UFO's door to subdue the Outsider inside. Bapela would cover the UFO's left flank, while Goto and Fast Lane would remain on the hilltop providing covering fire on the aliens below. With the plan agreed upon, the squad got ready to disembark as the craft approached the landing site.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

Once on the ground, the squad begins moving along the hill to the left as they advance with the hill as a blocker to the UFO. Reaching the bottom of the hill they notice a no man's land between the two hills where the UFO was just out of site range. As they prepared to storm across the gap, they hear noises coming from their planned attack path so they sit back and Overwatch, hoping to catch whatever it is off guard. No sooner did the squad achieve this; two Floaters came barreling in from the hill unaware of the trap they'd fallen into. Rascal lead the fire blanket as his pistol connected with the lead Floater wounding him into stopping his flight pattern. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Bapela's LMG came alive and ripped the Floater to shreds as the pieces fell to the Earth unmoving and in flames.

Durand's shot went wide on the Second Floater as he fell back to rethink his approach on XCOM's position. Fast Lane and Goto had hunkered down missing where the Floater went, because of that Fast Lane decided to move up to some tree cover on the hill to see if she could spot the Floater. Peeking out from her cover she spotted him in the no man's land hiding behind a low rock pile. Aiming down her rifle, the beam charged up and fired incinerating the Floater as he burst into flames and was still a moment later. With the little skirmish over, the squad reloaded their weapons before advancing across the no man's land.

Once at the hill's base, the squad began ascending it until they reached the top. Once at the hilltop, two Thin Men are spotted at the UFO's left opening and take cover behind some debris as the squad digs in on the high ground. The first Thin Man fell back into the UFO as he wanted to inform the Outsider of the human presence while his subordinate moves forward behind some more debris and takes a wild shot at Rascal's position that goes high and wide left. With the Thin Man preoccupied, Goto charges up to the cover next to Rascal and pulls out his pistol since he can't move and fire his rifle. Aiming down the site, his pistol beam shoots out and hits the thin Man dead center of his forehead causing his body to be engulfed in a green gas cloud as he falls over dead.

With the immediate threat taken care of, the other four Overwatch as they wait for the other Thin Man to return. The Overwatch from Durand and Rascal miss when the Thin Man charges out the UFO's front door destroying the hologram and surprising the squad. This causes any chance of a stealthy breach of the Outsider to go out the window since he'll see their approach from any angle. Rascal uses his Flush ability to damage the Thin Man and cause him to run deeper into the UFO for cover. Thinking he'll charge again, the squad goes on Overwatch and decides to wait him out.

* * *

== A Few Tense Minutes Later =

After waiting five minutes it became apparent that he wasn't returning Rascal and Bapela approach the UFO cautiously. Rascal moves towards the UFO wall as he spots nothing out of the ordinary. Bapela moves to the left opening and takes full cover behind some debris as he catches a glimpse of the Outsider and the Thin Man in the UFO's rear. This sudden appearance causes the Outsider to wound Bapela with his plasma rifle as he retreats back to the hilltop. With Rascal still on the UFO wall, Durand charges towards the right opening hoping to draw their attention enough to give Rascal the advantage to charge in and subdue the Outsider. Unfortunately, the Thin Man's Overwatch destroys the cover both were using to hide, causing them to fall back to some debris whose cover is flimsy.

Both of the aliens advance and launch attacks at the two troopers that are hung out to dry as the rest of the squad is still on the hill with no line of site, and only pistols out since they don't want to accidentally kill the Outsider on Overwatch. The Outsider launches a plasma rifle attack that hits Durand in the side tearing through her armor and nicking a lung, while the Thin Man launches a poison gas attack on Rascal as he tries to not breathe it in and fails. The only plus side is that Bapela is able to fall back and be healed by Fast Lane as they can only watch the attacks hit their comrades on the ground.

Durand is able to fall back to the original hillside and hunkers down behind the rocks to avoid more plasma rounds so she can heal her wounds enough to fight again in two turns. Rascal advances back towards the UFO wall and hunkers down to avoid being spotted, as he hopes the aliens will take the bait and charge into the Overwatch. The other three squad members hunker down on the hill so they cannot be shot at by the aliens when they emerge from the craft.

The two aliens take the bait, as the Thin Man moves towards his fallen brethren to drag him back into the UFO, while the Outsider rushes to the open door and goes on Overwatch as he can't see the squad's hunkered down positions. Almost as quickly as that happens, the trap is sprung. Bapela jumps up from his rock cover on the hill's left side as his LMG rips the Thin Man to pieces since he was caught in the open. With no protection, he quickly explodes into a gas cloud just like his brethren he was trying to retrieve. The Outsider sees this and prepares to fire, when Rascal dives out from his cover on the UFO wall and shouts:

"Eat this Motherfucker!" as he launches the Arc Thrower's 20,000 volt electrodes towards the surprised Outsider. The electrodes land and shock the creature for a few seconds as it twitches for a few moments before transforming into a small crystal that falls harmlessly to the UFO floor.

After searching the craft for any more living aliens, the mission is called over as no more contact is found. The squad then goes about giving Rascal the antidote, and Durand some Medikit gel before securing the prisoner and bodies for the return trip to base.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The squad's mission had been very fruitful for the XCOM project as all of the equipment inside the UFO managed to remain intact which gave them more things to research moving forward. Unfortunately, only one soldier earned a promotion for their performance on the mission. Fast Lane was finally being promoted to Lieutenant after extending her kill tally to 13 confirmed kills. With this promotion, she like Cargo chose the Revive perk which would allow her the ability to revive and unconscious squad member with a third of their original health. The others would still remain at their current ranks, and three of them would be in the Infirmary for short stints. Bapela's wounds were only minor so he would miss three days, while Durand's were a bit more serious and she would be out for four days. Rascal would need to remain in the Infirmary to ensure that the poison was out of his system so he'd be in there for a three day stay as well.

The return trip had taken an extra day then expected due to the high amount of salvageable equipment, so the squad didn't return home until late in the day on the 8th. With their return, life at base went back to normal.

* * *

== One Day Later ==

Unfortunately, that normality wouldn't last long as Abductions were reported in South Africa, France, and Canada. Based off of panic levels, the Commander ruled out South Africa, so that left the rewards being offered by the other two. Canada was offering up some more Engineers, but feeling that he needed more experienced troops on his team, the Commander decided to tackle the mission in France. Looking at the mission details, it was expected to be a Very Difficult mission indicating a high amount of aliens. With no time to lose, the Commander began assembling a team which was a combination of some of the more experience troops, as well as those that were due to have some more field experience.

* * *

 **AN: And cut! We've finally reached the third month of the Campaign which means that Mutons will be making an appearance shortly. Let me know what you guys think of my work or decisions in a review as I love hearing from you guys. I'll try to update more in the future, and hopefully there won't be another week long gap in between postings. Anyway I'll see you guys later. This is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	14. Operation First Future

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up everyone? Sorry about the gap between chapters, but the recent snowstorm where I live has kept me busy with shoveling and canceling school so I've been enjoying my time off. However, now that school is back in session for me the gaps between chapters will become more consistent. But, I'll do my best to update when I can find the time. Also, before starting I'd like to give a quick shout out to Neversaydie72 for following this story and to TheXPWriter for favoriting my other XCOM story. It's a great feeling to see people who enjoy the work I'm doing and it motivates me that much more to keep posting for you guys. Anyway, enough of my rambling it's time for the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Operation First Future**

== On the Skyranger ==

The pilot was already guiding the aircraft through the French airspace as they were nearing their destination in the heart of Marseille. It was just before dawn on the tenth of May as the five selected soldiers were preparing for another abduction mission that would contain another batch of aliens that have succeeded in capturing more of the world's citizens. The Commander had looked down the roster and had noticed some soldiers that were in desperate need of experience, so he made the audible to send three Squaddies with only a Sergeant and Lieutenant watching them. Confident that there wouldn't be anything they couldn't handle, the squad accepted the assignment and had hurried onto the Skyranger.

The five soldiers were now casually talking with each other since they were done their final weapons checks. Lt. Kim "Cargo" Green was in charge of the mission and was currently conversing with Sgt. Tatyana "Prototype" Zaytseva her second on the mission.

"So Prototype, how are things with Cobra?"

"Good. We finally did it last night."

"Really how was he?"

"Cargo! I'm not entirely comfortable talking about this!" said Prototype as she blushed a deep shade of red.

"Aw come on! You know you want to." teased Cargo, who really enjoyed doing this to the normally gruff Russian.

"Alright! He was magnificent, and o God could he go for hours!" exclaimed an exasperated Prototype who looked like a combination of unmixed Strawberry lemonade with her blond hair and red face.

"Damn girl you got lucky with him." said a now jealous Cargo, who wished she could find a man like Cobra.

On the other side of the aircraft, the three Squaddies were conversing with one another about what they would encounter on the mission.

"I honestly believe that we'll encounter Floaters and Thin Men. What do you two think?" asked XCOM's resident sage Sq. Katsume Goto. The old man was close to ranking up and the Commander felt it was best for him to go on the mission.

"I think it'll be Floaters and Sectoids." said the generally quiet Sq. Cheng Chen who was busy checking if his Medikit was fully stocked and only half paying attention.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'm just happy to be out in the field again." was the eager reply of Sq. Alex Smith. The young American was finally going on his second mission after a month of no action since the Thorne recovery mission.

"Don't be so overeager Smith. Your recklessness may get either yourself or one of us killed." replied Goto. The Japanese Sniper had become increasingly annoyed with the American after all he did was complaining back at base at not seeing enough action.

"Don't be a party pooper Goto, sometimes aggressiveness is the key to winning a battle as it throws your opponent off long enough to kill them." replied the American as he brought up his shotgun at the end of his statement and cocked it into a ready position.

"Will you both be quiet? You're giving me a headache." stated the Chinese Support soldier who had by this point finished his Medikit check and was massaging his temples.

All sound came to a halt, as Bradford came on screen and gave the squad the basic rundown on the ground situation. The aliens had assaulted an office space which had a shipping warehouse connected to it which was situated to the right of the structure. The squad would be landing in front of the warehouse's front entrance and were going to flank around to the loading docks situated on the warehouse's right side where two semis were in the process of offloading their payloads when the attack occurred. Their approach would be blocked by a large stone wall that would hopefully keep the aliens in the dark long enough for the squad to get the drop on them and end this mission quickly. With the plan agreed on, the Skyranger descended to the ground, as the landing ramp dropped and allowed them to charge out into the early morning darkness.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

"Central this is Big Sky. Strike One has reached the outer marker, requesting authorization to deploy."

"Roger that Big Sky. Reading you five by five, Strike One has the green light for deployment. Watch your backs out there people."

The squad immediately took cover behind the stone wall and made their slow and cautious approach around the building towards the two semis. Reaching them without any difficulty, Smith and Chen peeked through the open sides of the first semi and discovered that there wasn't anything inside at the moment.

Still with the element of surprise, the squad entered the building and was waiting for the enemy contact that never came. Moving forward slightly, two Floaters were seen patrolling the inside of the warehouse and were being really lax about their attention, obviously bored out of their minds. Seeing an easy kill opportunity, Smith and Chen patiently waited until the Floaters walked in front of the crates they were hiding behind. At this range it was a guarantee to hit, so both raised their weapons and fired.

Chen's laser struck true as the Floater's jetpack exploded and sent him crashing into a forklift as he fell to the ground lifeless with a scream, while Smith's shotgun riddled the other one with holes as his exploding jetpack sent him up into the ceiling where he exploded on impact leaving a hole in it.

"Whoops, do you think the French will be upset that I destroyed part of their roof?" asked Smith to Chen who just shrugged and both proceeded forward to the double wood doors that connected the office portion to the warehouse.

Chen was on the right side of the doors and opened it to see three creatures that hadn't been seen by XCOM before. The creatures were massive easily towering over any human, and wore green combat armor and seemed to be holding Plasma rifles with grenades on their belts. The thing that made them stick out the most was their red skin that gave them the appearance of great anger and aggression. Seeing Chen's head peeking through the doorway, the lead creature shouted into the air and pounded his chest alerting the other two. The three of them jumped out through the office window and took up positions behind the brick wall to fire into the office area.

"Uh guys! We've got some company and they look pretty pissed."

"Roger that Chen. What are we dealing with?" asked Cargo who caught a glimpse of them, but didn't get a good look at them.

"Looks like some massive hulking creatures that specialize in front-line combat if their armor is anything to go by. They look like what people would consider Infantry soldiers."

"And what's their armor strength and temperament?" asked Goto who had taken up a position in the warehouse that would allow him to shoot through a glass door that connected into a little front room that acted as a connector between the office's reception area and the warehouse.

"They appear to be overly agitated and want to rush our positions, they have extremely powerful rifles and what appear to be grenades. As for their armor, let me get back to you on that." replied Chen as he fired his rifle into the closest creature. It cracked the armor a small amount, but did little damage to the creature.

"They seem to have very strong armor. It's going to take at least two or three shots from our laser weapons to kill them."

"Great so we're dealing with a giant version of Smith that has red skin, high powered armor, and deadlier weapons that's freaking lovely."

"Hey! That was uncalled for old man!" shouted Smith who had moved to the right side of the warehouse with Prototype.

"Shut up all of you! We need to kill these things fast!" said Prototype who was tired of the chit chat.

"She's right, we need to flank them and take them out. I'll see if I can go through that connector to the semi parked out front of the building on their exposed flank. Prototype, take Smith and go around the back of the building to the other semi parked out back. There should be a door directly in front of it that will allow you a straight shot into their front with your rocket. Goto stays put and covers my path, I'm sure that wounded one will try to follow me through the connector so be vigilant. Chen…" but Cargo's plan was interrupted by Chen's cries.

"OW! Motherfucking hell!" exclaimed the normally quiet Chen as plasma rounds tore right through his armor and impacted his left lung and ribs putting him in serious danger of death.

"Fall back and treat your wound before moving back up after the rocket explodes, you can pick off any stragglers. Let's go people!"

* * *

== With Cargo ==

Cargo had rushed towards the door leading into the connector and kicked it down before running to the front door and noticed that three Floaters were clustering near the unnamed creatures supporting them for an assault of the building. With little time, she raised her laser rifle and fired as she radioed the team.

"Contact three more Floaters are with the unknown creatures!" with those words, her beam hit the nearest Floater as he exploded into tiny pieces of debris and flesh.

BANG! CRASH!

Cargo turned to look behind her as she heard those sounds and saw that the wounded creature had tried to follow her, but had met Goto's Barrett .50 caliber personally as a round had entered his head killing him instantly. This resulted in him falling forward through the glass door which brought them to the connector floor in a heap.

' _That was close. Now I wonder where the others went.'_

Cargo's thoughts were soon answered as one of the other creatures peered into the connector from the outside corner and fire plasma rounds into her right leg. Falling back, she pulled out her Medikit as she ordered Goto to cover her.

* * *

== With Prototype and Smith ==

Both soldiers had quietly opened the rear warehouse door and had rushed up the rear of the building as quietly as possible with their weapons at the ready.

Reaching their designated spot, Smith took cover on the door's left side while Prototype took the right. Opening the door, they both noticed the creature die from Goto, and the other one shoot towards Cargo. Knowing that time was of the essence, Prototype raised her RPG-7 and readied it to fire into the cluster of enemies.

"Fire in the hole!"

WHOOSH! BOOM!

The rocket impacted dead center into the alien cluster, one Floater exploded into nothingness, while the others suffered a critical amount of damage. Seeing their work done, the two prepared to fire into them again, but heard something behind them. Turning they saw two more Floaters on the semi's side about to fire on them.

"Suppress them, I'll flank!" shouted Smith as he ran into the building towards the east end, while Prototype ducked back into cover behind the semi and laid down suppressing fire on the two Floaters. One of them panicked and flew away, while the other fired through the bullets and hit Prototype in her right shoulder causing her to drop her SAW.

* * *

== With Smith ==

Smith had rushed to the door, before peeking through it slightly to notice only one of the Floaters was still in position behind the truck. Seeing his opportunity he rushed straight for the creature which turned at the last moment to meet shotgun buckshot dead on.

Seeing him collapsing thanks to half of his face missing, Smith ran back to check on Prototype and helped her wrap her shoulder in some cloth before picking up her weapon and both headed back into the fray.

* * *

== With Chen ==

Hearing the rocket go off, Chen rushed back to the door, and noticed the two creatures standing in the middle of what was now a destroyed no man's land. Noticing him, the two screeched at the tops of their lungs and tried to intimidate him into cowering. But, the collected Support soldier held fast and delivered a laser beam straight into the first one's exposed chest killing him instantly. Running forward he saw the other creature fall thanks to Cargo's beam tearing through its back as it was focused solely on him. Looking out again he saw Cargo taking cover behind a pickup truck reloading, as a floater dropped in out of nowhere.

* * *

== With Cargo ==

Cargo had reloaded her rifle and patched her wounds, and was about to regroup with Chen when she heard a familiar jetpack noise and looked up to see a panicked Floater landing right in front of her. Shaking her head at the enemy's lack of awareness she fired her rifle into his pack, killing him instantly in a flash of flame.

"Alright team, the area is secure! Regroup back in the…" she started to say before being cut off.

"Cargo duck!" yelled Chen as he raised his rifle towards her.

* * *

== With the Remaining Floater ==

He had somehow managed to escape the rocket blast with only minor damage as he flew away in the chaos of the situation. He could only watch on helplessly as the headstrong creatures were dispatched, followed by his other brethren that landed in the middle of the deadly crossfire. He was the only one left, and he would be damned if he didn't take one of those creatures with him as he died. Taking off he had his plasma rifle raised as he prepared to take out the one who appeared to be in charge, when all he saw was a red beam coming right for him.

* * *

== With Chen ==

Chen was about to walk out to meet Cargo, when he saw the whole thing unfold right in front of him, Cargo relaxing her posture, the Floater taking off from his concealed position, the Floater raising its rifle towards Cargo, the gleam in its eyes as it prepared to pull the trigger with its mechanical fingers.

"Cargo duck!" he yelled as he raised his rifle in one quick motion. The beam was unleashed just as Cargo hit the pavement and the look of surprise formed on the Floater's face as he was hit dead on by the beam and exploded. All the alien could do is shout as he fell to the ground in a pile of organic scrap metal.

"Thanks Chen! Alright, now the area is secure. Secure the bodies for the return trip back to base."

"Roger that Cargo! You heard her guys."

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The mission was a resounding success as none of the squad had perished and all of them would be coming out of it with a promotion. Cargo was promoted to Captain and chose to add Dense Smoke to her abilities, which would allow her smoke grenades to be twice as thick, and provide twice the amount of defense to her comrades in the smoke. Her wound also wasn't overly serious and she'd only be out 5 days. Prototype was promoted to Lieutenant and chose the ability of HEAT ammo which would provide her with double the amount of damage against robotic enemies. Her wound was the least serious and would only require her to miss four days. Chen was promoted to the rank of Corporal and chose the Sprinter ability which would allow him to cover an additional four tiles as he moved on the battlefield. Thanks to the rapid recovery perk he would only be required to miss 6 days, instead of 12 days had this not be purchased by the Commander.

Goto and Smith were both also promoted to Corporal and would be ready to go back into action immediately since they avoided getting hit by plasma. Goto now had the Squadsight ability and could stay back and still fire on targets his squadmates could see as long as he had a clear line to fire from. Smith chose the Aggression ability unsurprisingly, which added a 10% chance to get a critical hit per enemy in sight.

Moving on, the Commander decided to name the new creatures Mutons due to their aggressive style in combat, and their appearance. Also, thanks to the completion of the mission XCOM received a new Sergeant from the French as a mission reward. The soldier in question was named Julien Richard and he was a 6' 5'' dark skinned mountain of a man that weighed in at 235 lbs. Richard had his black hair trimmed down in a buzz-cut, and was 23 years old who was originally born in Algeria but immigrated to France at a young age. A career soldier since 18, Richard was a part of the Commandement des Opérations Spéciales, (French Special Forces), specializing in covert sabotage missions involving the destruction of alien ships and artifacts. He had volunteered to join XCOM after being promised that he could return to his old job after the war was over. Due to his specialization with explosives, the Commander designated him a Heavy soldier and gave him training in Rockets, Holo-Targeting, and Suppression as well as the call sign "Road Block" which Richard approved of.

* * *

== The Following Day ==

After the new guy's arrival, the Foundry was finally built and operational which would allow for the engineers to improve upon the current tech and make it deadlier against the aliens. However, the Commander wanted to save the funds for something else before beginning work.

* * *

== One Day Later ==

The Power Generator was finally online which lifted the previous power restrictions the base had been experiencing which would allow for future structures to be built at the Commander's leisure.

* * *

== Three Days Later ==

The research on Precision Lasers was finally finished, which freed up the scientists to begin the long anticipated research on the Outsider Shard. This would bring the project one step closer to finding the psychic alien who had slaughtered the German recon team at the start of the war.

The Commander used his surplus credits to build a Laser version of the Barrett .50 caliber, as well as a laser version of the Remington 870 MCS shotgun. These new weapons came with increased damage which should allow for fast destruction of aliens out in the field.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

All was quiet, until the Council radioed into the Situation Room to get the Commander's attention about an impending attack. It came to the Council's attention that the aliens had constructed an object that was sucking in massive amounts of power equivalent to a bomb. The aliens then besieged a railway station in Argentina to deploy it where it would kill thousands if it went off. The Council was offering XCOM an amount of 202 credits, as well as Panic Reduction across South America if the mission was successful.

Knowing that this was a top priority mission, the Commander decided to use the perk that came with Cargo making Captain and activated the Squad Size II ability. This would allow the Commander to send six soldiers into the field at a time which should make dealing with the aliens all the more easier. Now with added flexibility, the Commander chose the six lucky soldiers who'd go down to Argentina and "defuse" the situation.

* * *

 **AN: And that's it for that chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it, and will leave your comments detailing me how I'm doing and where I can improve as a writer. Also, keep those favorites and follows coming as it keeps me motivated to write these stories for your entertainment. Anyway that's all for me, until next time this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	15. Operation Driving Giant

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **What's up fellow XCOM fans? I hope you guys are as excited for the release of XCOM 2 as I am, I'm currently downloading as we speak, but I have to wait 11 hours for it to finish since its 25.0 GB with the Downloadable content included. So to pass the time I figured that I'd update this story for you. Let's Rock!**

 **Chapter 13: Operation Driving Giant**

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

The squad was already en route to the sight when the full map of the area came up on the hologram situated in the Skyranger. The squad would be landing out in front of the station and be entering on the left side by the Southbound trains, while the Northbound platform was on the other side. The plan was to secure the platform before moving into the middle of the tracks and setting up Goto to pick off far away targets that tried to bull rush them. Eventually, the squad would move to secure the Northbound side as well and hopefully find the bomb at some point. The prospect of a bomb being present unnerved some of the soldiers, but the higher ranked were sure that they'd be fine.

For the mission, the Commander and Bradford had selected Lt. Chidi "Rascal" Okeke to lead the squad with his Scatter Laser Rifle, (a Laser version of his Shotgun), Laser pistol and a vest since he'd be going against the aliens head-first.

His second in command for the mission was the newest acquisition for the XCOM barracks, Sgt. Julien "Road Block" Richard the Algerian-Frenchman. Needing some more combat experience against the aliens in a full on assault instead of a covert operation, Road Black had switched to the M249 SAW and had also grabbed a vest to protect him under his armor.

The third member of the squad was the old man, Cpl. Katsume Goto who was working extra hard to reach Sergeant. Goto had grabbed the newly made Laser Barrett .50 caliber and had outfitted it with a S.C.O.P.E and also grabbed a Laser Pistol in case of some close range fights.

Rounding out the squad were Squaddies Durand, Zhao, and Olson. Durand and Zhao were the Support soldiers for this mission so they both had grabbed some Medikits and had managed to each secure a Laser Rifle as well as a Laser pistol to complete their loadout. Olson on the other hand had also grabbed a Laser Rifle and was the backup Assault for the mission. Since his panic attack on his first mission, Olson had sworn to stay back from the alien fights and instead attached a S.C.O.P.E to his rifle that he could provide long range support with Goto.

With the squad prepped and ready to go, the Skyranger touched down to commence Operation Driving Giant under the cover of darkness.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

The squad had just entered the empty train station that would normally be bustling with life, but due to the war was now eerily silent.

"Man this place gives me the creeps." said a nervous Olson who's knees were shaking at the thought of what might happen to them if an alien got the drop on them. The temptation was too much for Zhao as he snuck up behind him.

"BOO!" shouted Zhao.

"AHHH!" screamed Olson in an high pitched tone as he dropped his weapon and jumped into the nearest person's arms which was Road Block. Zhao and Durand were laughing their asses off, while Goto just face palmed at the immaturity of his squadmates.

"Get off me you big chicken." said Road Block as he unceremoniously dropped Olson on his ass.

"Will you idiots shut up! We got a mission to complete!" said an impatient Rascal who tried to get the squad back on track. It seemed to work as the squad got serious again with his stern, no-nonsense tone.

As the squad walked up the stairs leading to the Southbound platform they noticed a small green object giving off a greenish glow.

"The fuck?" asked a confused Road Block who'd never seen something like this before.

"That appears to be a power node for the bomb Strike One. Disabling it will give you more time to search for the bomb and disarm it. Right now we only have 15 minutes to find it." replied Dr. Shen who was instantly able to recognize what the object was.

"Roger that Dr. Shen. Okay here's the plan, I'll move up to the node to deactivate it. Durand take cover by the front of the train, from there you'll move out into the center of the tracks and will disarm any nodes you spot. Goto and Zhao will take up spots behind this map directory on the right, while Olson and Road Block will take cover behind the left one. Goto and Zhao will provide cover for you Durand, and kill any hostiles that attempt to rush up the train to attack us. Road Block you and Olson will cover the platform. Any questions?"

Receiving only head shakes, Rascal gave them the sign to move out as he moved up to the node. Reaching it, he peered down the platform and noticed two Thin Men who were positioned near one of the pods used to capture humans and quickly rushed inside the train car nearest them for cover.

"Contact! Two inside the train coming in hot!" said Rascal in a hushed yet excited tone to his squadmates. Looking at the object in front of him, he had no idea how to turn the thing off, so he examined it a bit, before seeing a little red button on top of it.

 _'What the hell, here goes nothing.'_ he thought as he pressed the button and watched as the green light disappeared signaling the node had been successfully deactivated.

"AHH!" POOF!

Hearing the telltale sound of a Thin Man's death, Rascal looked up to see Zhao's still smoking laser rifle pointed at a gas cloud inside the train's second car.

"Nice shot Zhao! Looks like the training with Fast Lane is paying off."

"Thanks Rascal!"

"Cover me I'm moving up!"

Rushing further up the platform, Rascal had to perform some fancy footwork as he zigzagged around some plasma bolts from the other Thin Man in the train's third car. Reaching the next node, he deactivates it before searching for the fucker who just shot at him.

* * *

== With the Others ==

Durand took the temporary confusion as an opportunity to rush towards a node in between the two tracks. Looking up she saw two Thin Men just chilling in the middle of the tracks who proceeded to hiss at her and ran. One moved further back into cover on the Northbound platform, while the other one attempted to flank her.

"Cover my flank!" she shouted as she hit the red button on the node in front of her.

Seeing the problem developing, Goto brought his Barrett up and dispatched the Thin Man who had taken cover on the Platform.

Knowing Durand had little time before she was dead, Olson charged forward into the driver's car by busting through the window and receiving some slices to his armor but that wasn't his concern. He wasn't going to let one of his friends die on his watch. Peeking out, he unleashed a beam that smack the alien in the forehead, killing him instantly.

Exhaling a sigh at the threat's death, Durand looked down the tracks and saw the Thin Man who shot at Rascal charging towards her. Reacting quickly she launched a beam that struck the alien in the chest, tearing through him and riddling him dead as a doornail.

With the threat dispatched for now Durand moved forward to the Northbound platform, taking care to avoid the noxious fumes coming from the dead Thin Men. She reached another node and deactivated it, before moving up behind a newspaper stand for cover.

* * *

== Back With Rascal ==

Rascal took the opportunity presented to jump into the third train car through the previously destroyed window. Looking across the way, he spotted two more Thin Men that were at the far end of the Northbound platform. Taking cover from the human, the two Thin Men disappeared from sight, and Rascal hunkered down to avoid being shot at.

"Squad move up we have contact further down the Northbound platform."

* * *

== Back with the Others ==

"Roger that sir." replied Road Block

"You heard the man move it up." he commanded.

The squad moved up in two separate groups. Zhao joined Olson in the train, while Road Block and Goto descended onto the tracks.

* * *

== With Olson and Zhao ==

Zhao was in the lead, before he received a reaction shot from the Thin Man that hit him in his right shoulder, which caused him to drop his weapon.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed as he backed up to take cover along the inside of one of the train's walls.

Seeing the situation, Olson kicked Zhao's rifle over to him, while he ran further into the train to take cover.

 _'Best not to give them an easy poison target.'_ thought Olson as he assessed the situation.

Olson then leaned out and then dispatched the offending alien before checking on Zhao who was currently patching himself up with his Medikit.

"You good?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a glancing blow. Give me a couple minutes and I'll be able to move up."

Not abandoning his friend, Olson provided Overwatch until Zhao was ready to move.

* * *

== With Road Block and Goto ==

Road Block and Goto had taken cover behind the now destroyed front car of the train and had eventually moved into cover in the middle of the tracks behind a node and alien capture device respectively. Both of them however, had no shots on any of the remaining creatures so they decided to hang back and provide Overwatch.

* * *

== With Rascal ==

Rascal ran through the train and jumped out one of the windows of the fourth car into the middle of the tracks where another node was located. Having reached it particularly unnoticed, he deactivated it before having his Scatter Laser at the ready. Out of nowhere plasma bolts struck him in his chest that were thankfully absorbed by his vest as he looked up to see the remaining Thin Man that had run away had entrenched himself behind a vending machine on the far platform.

Ducking down to avoid more plasma rounds, Rascal called in some support.

"I'm pinned down, need this guy taken care of yesterday!"

* * *

== With Durand ==

"I'm on my way Rascal!" exclaimed Durand as she hoofed it down the northbound platform and saw the Thin Man that was currently suppressing her squad leader. Seeing its attention entirely devoted to Rascal she was able to get behind him and sent a laser beam through its spine killing him, and sending up a cloud of the noxious fumes that accompany a Thin Man's death.

Looking to her right, she spotted a tall object that had a green light coming off it much like the nodes they encountered earlier had. At this point Dr. Shen's voice came over the radio to interrupt her gazing.

"Looks like you found the bomb Strike One. Now you need to get someone over there and deactivate it."

"Durand you can deactivate the bomb." ordered Rascal.

"Why me?! Can't Road Block do it?" asked a surprised Durand.

"He's too far away to defuse it in time, besides think of it as a punishment for messing with Olson earlier."

"Fine." she said as she sighed in frustration.

 _'I knew I should've stayed back at the base today.'_ thought Durand as she approached the bomb carefully to not set it off prematurely. Giving it a once over, she noticed that it seemed to be a bigger version of the power node as it had the same basic design and layout. Looking up she spotted a giant red button that was probably the defuse button like with the nodes. Pressing it, she heard a whirring sound as the green light slowly faded away to be replaced by nothing.

"Bomb is deactivated." reported Durand as the squad cheered.

"Look alive Strike One, I've got multiple hostiles closing on your location. Eyes up!" said Bradford.

Not a second sooner, two Thin Men dropped into the area and set up on Overwatch to pin the squad down. One had landed on the roof of the train, while the other came in directly behind Durand.

Reacting quickly, Goto propped his rifle on top of the capture device and unleashed a beam that quickly dispatched the Thin Man on the roof in a cloud of gas. With the ability to move up now, Rascal rushed forward towards the platform edge, which caused the Thin Man to fire at him. With his enhanced reflexes, Rascal dodged the shot and unleashed his Scatter Laser on the alien and ending him before he could cause any damage. With all threats neutralized, the squad secured the bodies and prepped for the return to base. The situation was successfully defused.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The squad returned to base in high spirits at saving so many lives, as well as not losing a single person in their first Bomb Mission. Once they returned to base, it was discovered that Durand, Zhao, and Olson had all been promoted to Corporal for their performance during the mission. Durand and Zhao both picked up Sprinter which would allow them to move farther, while Olson picked up the Aggression perk to help counter his easily frightened disposition. Goto had also earned a promotion and had reached the rank of Sergeant, which allowed him to pickup Gunslinger to increase his pistol damage and also chose the nickname "Specter".

With their wounds, Zhao and Rascal would only be out of action for three days thanks to the doctor's advanced equipment and medical knowledge. Things seemed to return to normal for the XCOM group.

* * *

== The Following Day ==

The Research department had finally finished the research on the Outsider Shard and had brought it to the Situation Room for the Commander and Bradford to see where their tracking of the signal leads. After scanning for a few minutes it led to an area of Eastern Russia but didn't show anything out of ordinary on the surface.

"What!? That's impossible, I know it's there!" exclaimed Shen.

"Switch to thermal." ordered Bradford.

The technician did as ordered and it revealed an underground facility that looked suspiciously similar to a base structure.

"Hello what have we here? Now that we know where that thing is hiding, how do we get in?" said Bradford.

"I thought you'd never ask." said Shen with a glint in his eyes as he looked over at the Outsider Shard.

Following this discovery, Shen and his team began constructing an Access Lift to the third level of the underground base. Dr. Vahlen and her team began research on some better body armor for the troops which she called Carapace Armor.

* * *

== Five Days Later ==

The research into the new armor had finally been completed, and the schematics were delivered to the Engineering department to begin fabrication. With nothing else to do, the Commander asked Vahlen and her team to begin researching the Skeleton Suit which was a slimmer version of the Carapace Armor that would allow the soldiers to access higher areas of elevation via grappling hook.

Shen's team had finished the new lift and had begun excavating on the third level's right side when they received the schematics. The team then managed to produce two sets of the new Armor that the Commander would give to his frontline troops since they'd be facing the aliens head on.

* * *

== A Few Hours Later ==

The peace at the base was interrupted by an alarm being raised indicating Abductions that were taking place around the globe. Reaching the Geoscape, the Commander noticed that this time the Aliens were targeting Japan, Nigeria, and Argentina. Knowing that the recent mission to defuse the bomb was in Argentina, they were quickly ruled out, leaving a borderline panicking Japan, and Nigeria. The Engineering staff had been recently complaining about their lack of personnel in completing the workload they were assigned, so the Commander chose to respond to Nigeria's request as he hoped Japan wouldn't leave the council due to ignoring their request. Having a Very Difficult mission ahead, the Commander began selecting the troops who would lead the counterattack against the alien incursion.

* * *

 **AN: That's a wrap for this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm hoping to get to play XCOM 2 later this week, which may give me some new material to write a sequel installment to XCOM: Earth's Guarding Saviors. Anyway remember to read and review, and also tell your friends about the story because I always enjoy having new readers view my work. Until next time this is "The Nasty One" signing off!**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


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